Concerned Health Professionals of NY Letters to Governor Cuomo

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COMPENDIUM

LETTERS TO GOV. CUOMO

CALL FOR AN HIA

DOCUMENTATION

ABOUT

CONTACT

Letters to Governor Cuomo

Since Governor Cuomos inauguration in January 2010, hundreds of health professionals and organizations from across the state of New York have called on his
administration to conduct an independent, comprehensive Health Impact Assessment. Below are the letters.

October 14, 2015

October 5, 2011

May 29, 2014

February 27, 2013

March 26, 2011

February 28, 2011

October 4, 2012

March 16, 2012

December 12, 2011

The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo

Governor of New York State

New York State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Dear Governor Cuomo,
We in the medical and scientific community in New York State are pleased that our efforts to bring the public health impacts of the largest land use decision in
New York States history to the attention of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Department of Health (DOH) and to the forefront of the
SGEIS process have been heard. We were heartened that in DECs September 20, 2012 announcement regarding a health review, Commissioner Martens
wrote: Only after this evaluation is completed will a decision be made about whether to permit high volume hydraulic fracturing in New York. Obviously if there
was a public health concern that could not be addressed we would not proceed. However, a DOH review of work already prepared by DEC on this topic is not
enough to answer the question of whether there is a public health concern that cannot be addressed. New York must commission a full Health Impact
Assessment to better understand the impacts of fracking (meaning the whole process of gas extraction, from site development to delivery) on public health and
the measures needed to protect our communities.
th
DEC Commissioner Joseph Martens September 20 press release rejecting our request for a Health Impact Assessment and announcing DOHs review of
DECs work brings several concerns and questions to mind, including:
What is the health impact analysis document currently under DOHs review and who will have access to it?
Will the questions weve been askingabout the health effects of air and water pollution, soil contamination, radon, community impacts, worker safety,
psychosocial stress, developmental toxicants and endocrine disruptors, and social justicebe addressed in this review?
Will there be transparency and how will that be achieved?
Will it be inclusive of all stakeholders?
Will the DOH which previously had expressed that health impacts were adequately addressed in the 2011 draft of the SGEIS now be able to do an objective
review, and if so, what has changed?
What is the process for this review?
What expertise does DEC have to conduct a health analysis in the first instance?
Our foremost concern is that the review proposed by Commissioner Martens differs significantly from the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) we requested. A
comprehensive Health Impact Assessment, is a process designed by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control, and outlined in a
guidance document by the National Academies of Science, http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13229, for precisely the kind of decision which DEC is
currently weighing. An HIA is:
Transparent;
Inclusive of all stakeholders;
A recognized process which includes several public health tools;
Conducted by an entity with public health expertise; and
Includes public participation throughout the process.
We have received no indication that DOHs proposed review will meet these standards. There also seems to be a misconception about the Health Impact
Assessment process, alluded to by Commissioner Martens in his statement that the decision-making will remain a governmental responsibility. A Health Impact
Assessment informs and provides recommendations to the decision-makers, and does not, in any way, take away the decision from the decision-makers.
In closing, we would like to offer the following observation for your consideration. Commissioner Martens rightly refers to the need to establish the legitimacy of
the regulatory process if the controversy that has engulfed shale gas fracking in New York is ever to be resolved. We suggest that you consider, in the face of the
overwhelming recommendation of the medical communities of New York State that a Health Impact Assessment be undertaken, what the consequences would

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be if a credible one is not undertaken and fracking proves to be a health disaster. It will be impossible to contain the damage to the States credibility and
authority in this area. Your Administration seems to have recognized that fact in responding to the demand for some health review, but to do so in this
halfhearted and questionable way is to once again ensure your well-meaning efforts will be counterproductive. The only way to create the basis for public trust
that fracking can be done without major threat to public health is to do a truly independent, truly comprehensive, truly transparent assessment, one done with all
stakeholders and relevant experts at the table that demonstrates that is the case. We urge your most careful consideration of these concerns.
Governor Cuomo, we ask that you join us in advocating on behalf of the most vulnerable, assuring that social justice is achieved, and that the relevant scientific
information is in the hands of the decision-makersyours as well as DECs.
We request that a copy of the DEC-generated health impact analysis referenced in the Commissioners press release be made available to the public and that
you re-consider the proposed DOH review, and instead commission a full and transparent Health Impact Assessment.
Sincerely,
Shannon Aether RN, Ithaca, NY
Ellis Arnstein MD, NYC, NY
Michelle Bamberger MS DVM, private practice Veterinarian, Ithaca, NY
Delores Bennett RN, Unadilla, NY
Sharon Berger RN, Trumansburg, NY
Paul C. Bermanzohn MD, Rosendale, NY
Ronald E. Bishop PhD CHO, SUNY Oneonta
Linda Bove RN CPN, Clinical Nurse Educator, Blythedale Childrens Hospital, Valhalla, NY
Kelly K. Branigan RN, Middlefield, NY
Michael P. Branigan CRNA MS, Middlefield, NY
Broome County Medical Society
Christine Brouwer, Founder, Miras Movement/Supporting Kids with Cancer
Sarah Buckley RN CCRN, co-founder of Protecting Our Water Rights, East Aurora, NY
Sheila Bushkin-Bedient MD MPH, Public Health and Preventive Medicine Consultant, Waterford, NY
Dyan Campbell RN BSN MPH, Past Sullivan County Public Health Director (1971 2000)
Marybeth Carlberg MD, Physician Advisory Board for Onondaga County Health Dept., SUNY Upstate Teaching Faculty, Syracuse, NY
Jeffrey Carlberg MD, SUNY Upstate Teaching Faculty, Syracuse, NY
David O Carpenter MD, Director, Institute for Health and the Environment University at Albany, Rensselaer, NY
Andrew D Coates MD FACP, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, Albany Medical College
Alice Cody RN, Town of Groton, NY
D. Barry Crittenden MD, Instructor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, NYU School of Medicine
Dominick Di Fabio MD, Psychiatrist, Irvington, NY
Christine K Durbak PhD, Psychoanalyst, World Information Transfer, NY, NY
Larysa Dyrszka MD, Pediatrician (retired), Bethel, NY
David Fanion MD, Cooperstown, NY

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Donna Flayhan PhD, Director, The Lower Manhattan Public Health Project, New Paltz, NY
Michael Fox PhD, Psychologist, NYC, NY
Kathryn Frankiewich RN MSN PNP, Buffalo, NY
Amy Freeth MD, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Cooperstown, NY
Jacquelyn H Gailor BSN RN, Retired Public Health Director for Cortland County
Marion Giambattista RN, Groton, NY
Cindy Kurpil Gieger RN, Sullivan County Legislator
Cindy Gordon MD, Town of Dryden, NY
David Gould MD MBA, NY, NY
Pamela Griffith BSN, Homer, NY
Alice Grow RN, Newfield, NY
Elizabeth Hess, Family Nurse Practitioner, Gannett Health Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Patricia Jacob, Family Nurse Practitioner, Hematology/Oncology Bassett Medical Center, Cooperstown, NY
Jonathan Jimnez Prez, Mount Sinai School of Medicine Class of 2014, NYC, NY
Marcia Heaney, President, Breast Cancer Network of Western New York
Sueane Hemmer Goodreau ND RN CFNP, Ithaca, NY
Julie Huntsman DVM, Town of Otsego Council, Otsego, NY
Kenneth Jaffe MD, Slope Farms, Meredith, NY
David W Kalb BS MS and current RN student, Freeville, NY
Lila J Kalinich MD, Professor, Columbia University, NYC, NY
Andrew S Kanter MD MPH, Asst. Prof. of Clinical Biomedical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology
Columbia University
Amy Koreen MD, Huntington, NY
David B. Kraskow RN, Cayuga Medical Center, Ithaca, NY
Antoinette Kuzminski MD, Fly Creek, NY
Philip J Landrigan MD MSc, Dean for Global Health,
Ethel H. Wise Professor and Chairman, Department of Preventive Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Childrens Environmental Health Center
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NYC, NY
Adam Law MD, Ithaca, NY
Eric London MD, Bethel, NY
Judith Maidenbaum PhD, Psychoanalyst, Kauneonga Lake, NY

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Mary McCutcheon RN MS, East Aurora, NY

Michelle C. McNamara RN, Ithaca, NY
Mary Menapace RN, Womens Health, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY
Kevin Millar MSN CRNA, Owego, NY
Karen Joy Miller, Founder, Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition, Inc.
Ramon Murphy MD MPH, Professor of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NYC, NY
New York State Breast Cancer Network (a network of 25 organizations located in communities all across the state), Andi Gladstone Executive Director
Kathy Nolan MD MSL, Pediatrician, Regional Director for the High Peaks Catskill Mountainkeeper
Kristine Noonan RN, Nurse Rise ~ Nurses for Safe Water, Buffalo, NY
Michael R. OBrien MD, Clinical Assistant Instructor, Internal Medicine-Pediatrics, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
Robert Oswald PhD, Professor, Department of Molecular Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Graham Ottoson CNM NP, Ithaca, NY
Julia Parete, Nurse Practitioner, Trumansburg, Town of Hector, NY
Frederica P. Perera DrPH PhD, Professor of Public Health, Director, Columbia Center for Childrens Environmental Health Department of Environmental Health
Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY
Nina Pesante MD, Vestal, NY
Physicians for Social Responsibility, New York City chapter, Shannon Gearhart MD, President
Margaret A Rafferty DNP MPH, NYC, NY
Leia Raphaelidis RN FNP, Ithaca, NY
Jacqueline Reinhard, Executive Director, SHARE (Self-Help for Women with Breast or Ovarian Cancer)
Marian H Rose PhD, Bedford, NY
Toby G Rossman PhD, Professor of Environmental Medicine, NYU Langone School of Medicine, Tuxedo, NY
Carol S Ryan RN MPH, Director of Public Health/Patient Services, Sullivan County Public Health Services
William Sawyer PhD, Toxicology Consultants & Assessment Specialist, LLC, Skaneateles, NY
Ted Schettler MD MPH, Science Director, Science and Environmental Health Network
Stephen S. Schneider DDS, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, Deposit, NY
Peter Schwarz MD, Ithaca, NY
Joan Sheehan, President, CRAAB! (Capital Region Action Against Breast Cancer)
Howard Silcoff MD, Town of Dryden, NY
Ken Spaeth MD MPH, Assistant Professor, Hofstra University School of Health Sciences
Sandra Steingraber PhD, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Department of Environmental Studies, Ithaca College
Shanna H Swan PhD, Professor and Vice-Chair for Research and Mentoring, Department of Preventive Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Tompkins County Medical Society

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Paul F Torrisi MD, Retina-Vitreous Surgeons of CNY Inc., Associate Clinical Professor Ophthalmology, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY
Mary Jane Uttech RN MSN, Marathon, NY
Kitty Vetter RN, Sullivan County Legislator
Gregory Weiland PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Cornell University, Groton, NY
Laura Weinberg, Great Neck Breast Cancer Coalition, NY
Richard Weiskopf MD, Syracuse, NY

2012 Concerned Health Professionals of New York

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