LPG Fracking Coming to Tioga NY?

Tioga County (WENY) - Deep shale hydrofracking could be coming to the Southern tier a lot sooner than a lot of people think. A company has come up with a way to do it without using millions of gallons of water.

And a group of about two-thousand local land owners, called Southern Tier Energy Partners, signed an agreement with 2 companies that want to start drilling in a matter of months. The Method is known as LPG Fracturing. It uses gelled liquid petroleum gas instead of chemically infused water and sand.

The method's never been used in New York and still needs to be tested by the Department of Environmental Conservation. The company GASFRAC primarily uses this method in Canada, and claims it wouldn't violate any provisions in New York's Environmental Impact Study.

The LPG Fracking method is similar to other horizontal fracking methods in that it uses a substance to crack the shale and release the gas. Walter Hang from Toxics Targeting in Ithaca says this method still doesn't get rid of the brine that comes back up with the gas.

“You're not using water to crack the rock but that does not eliminate the generation of the toxic brine if we don't have a good way to manage this contaminated brine then this proceeding should not be allowed to go forward.”

WENY's calls to the Chairman of the Tioga Landowners Group were not returned. We will keep you updated on this story as it develops.