I have not been afraid of attacking Mayor Bloomberg's positions and actions when I found them to be amazingly wrong. The least I can do, therefore, is to praise him highly when he is (IMHO) absolutely right. Such is the case with proposed gas drilling upstate, using a process known as hydraulic fracturing.

This process involves injecting enormous amounts of water, mixed with sand and a whole lot of toxic chemicals, into the ground in order to open fractures in a rock layer known as Marcellus shale and extract natural gas that is trapped in the rock. There are three problems with this:

First, the natural gas often finds its way into private water wells -- on Jan. 1 in Dimock, PA, a private water well actually exploded from natural gas buildup, and four other wells were shut down after tests showed dangerous levels of gas.

Second, the toxic chemicals can (and often do) migrate into water supplies, poisoning them. If the upstate reservoirs were poisoned with the various benzene compounds (among other things), we would need a special filtration plant that could cost upward of $20 billion to build and hundreds of millions of dollars per year to operate. In addition, those chemicals have a history of destroying the health of residents living anywhere near the gas wells, both by poisoning their water and by evaporating and traveling tens of miles away to get into people's lungs. Symptoms are consistent with multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, and other fun things.

Third, the Marcellus shale is highly radioactive, and DEC tests of wastewater coming from older gas wells show hideous levels of radium, which breaks down into radon gas. Back in the 80s, in the town of Marcellus (for which Marcellus shale is named because the shale layer is close to the surface there), radon gas seeped into homes and many people had to be evacuated. Drilling into the shale brings the radium to the surface where it can contaminate people working and living in the area. According to the EPA, radon gas is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers.

While the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is playing games, and appears to be trying to give gas drillers everything their greasy little ... well, whatever substitute they have for hearts ... desire, the city has been fighting back. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Councilmember and Environmental Committee chair Jim Gennaro have taken the lead. At the rally before last night's DEC hearing they were joined by Councilmembers Dan Garodnik and Jessica Lappin, and Congressmember Jerrold Nadler.

Inside the hearing, Mayor Bloomberg sent Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler, who did not call for an outright ban on drilling anywhere near the NYC water supply, but he came about as close as possible (those who have taken calculus will understand when I say he approached calling for a ban as a limit).

Last June, Assemblymember Jim Brennan introduced A.8748, which would prohibit hydraulic fracturing in and near the NYC watershed, as well as anywhere else that the toxic chemicals could get into water supplies. Recently, Senator Tom Duane introduced a "same as" bill (S.6244). These bills would stop the DEC from issuing permits to gas drillers who have no compunction of making New Yorkers sick (or even killing us slowly) in pursuit of immediate profits.

It would also stop DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis from getting in bed with gas drillers while screwing New Yorkers.

Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg is all over this issue, and he is on the right side, so I offer my highest praise for his efforts to protect us all on this vital issue.