By Ken Dixon
HARTFORD – The House of Representatives put the finishing touches on the state’s anti-fracking policy on Wednesday, beating its midnight deadline to approve a three-year moratorium that would ban waste from natural gas exploration in nearby western states from Connecticut.
Debate was suspended during the evening, put picked up again shortly before midnight. The bill passed 128-19 and heads to the governor.
While the state’s geology does not have the Marcellus Shale deposits that are attracting explorers and miners to New York State, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, lawmakers are worried about the importation of dangerous heavy metals in a sludge created by the hydraulic-fracturing process.
There is a provision to allow several hundred gallons to come into the state, so a company involved in treating the material, can experiment with chemical procedures. Rep. John Shaban, R-Redding, ranking member of the legislative Environment Committee, said it was an addition to the bill that made it attractive “while not thwarting a potential industry.”
During the moratorium, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will also explore the hydraulic-fracturing process. The nearest use of high-pressure water to break up the sedimentary shale and release natural gas, is about 250 miles away from Connecticut.
“I believe this is a fair compromise,” said Rep. Tom O’Dea, R-New Canaan, a member of the Environment Committee, where the legislation originated.
Rep. James Albis, D-East Haven, vice chairman of the Environment Committee, said the state has virtually no shale deposits and the new law would have no effect on water-well drills and other uses, including construction projects. “Any other well in Connecticut is not covered by this,” Albis said.
Rep. Laura Hoydick, R-Stratford, ranking member of the Energy & Technology Committee, said that if other states adopt similar moratoriums, the state could lose access to natural gas supplies, or higher electricity costs.
Albis replied that the safety of residents in all states, including those where natural gas is being captured in the shale deposits.
Chris Phelps, program director for the non-profit Environment Connecticut, said the bill is a start.
“The moratorium is a first step towards keeping toxic and radioactive fracking waste out of Connecticut,” he said in a statement. ” Unfortunately, other provisions in the bill fall short of the mark and more work is needed to ensure CT does not become the fracking industry’s toxic waste dumping ground. Frackers in Pennsylvania and around the country generate hundreds of billions of gallons of toxic, and even radioactive waste, every single year. That waste has contaminated rivers, streams, water supplies, and threatened the health of families in community after community nationwide. The problem is so serious that frackers are looking for more places to dump their waste. The good news for Connecticut’s families is that this bill should mean that for the next few years, our communities will not become the fracking industry’s toxic waste dumping ground. However, more effort is necessary in order to strengthen the law and keep toxic fracking waste out of Connecticut permanently. We will continue working to organize concerned citizens, environmental and public health advocates, local businesses, and local leaders across the state to urge regulators, legislators, and the governor to finish the job begun with this bill by enacting a permanent ban to stop the fracking industry from dumping its toxic waste in Connecticut.”
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