my name is robert howerth, tenured at cornell university since 1985. i am here as an individual. i do not represent the university, though the opinions i express are informed by my research conducted at cornell. i have risk assessment and consequences of environmental pollution, oil and gas, since the mid 70s. i was invited to present information on the environmental public health hydraulic fracturing. the process existed for decades. but it existed on a small scale using small vol up umes of wate. high precision directional drilling with high volume hydraulic fracturing, using 50 to 100 times more water than was used in fracturing until a decade or so ago, 5 million or gallons per well. this new technology has indeed opened up new resources from shale gas and other gas. the technology is very, very new. i want to stress that. as a result, the science, our understanding what the consequences are is also very, very new. for contest, half of all of the shale gas developed in the world has been produced in the last three years. so new technology, the science is new. in terms of peer