By Emma Piper-Burket

The Marcellus Shale, spanning 8 states in the Appalachian Basin-- including the area in upstate New York where Eve's Cidery is based, contains an estimated 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (or enough gas to supply US energy needs for 2 years). Until recently, the technology did not exist to access the gas but now energy companies have found a way and are actively pursuing leases to drill into the land using a method called hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing requires millions of gallons of water and uses toxic chemicals to drill up to 9,000 feet to extract the gas- the environmental risks have not been fully addressed but it would pose a severe threat to several key watersheds not to mention toxic chemical run off in local communities. Though plans are underway to proceed with the drilling, the issue is largely under reported in the media. The articles and public outcry that do arise are largely connected to the threats such drilling poses to the New York City watershed, and the problems are often simplified to a conflict between the needs of the city overpowering economic needs upstate. In reality the environmental consequences of hydraulic fracturing run much deeper, there are also countless farms, communities and livelihoods that would be adversely affected.

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