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Fracking Petitions
Another set of fracking opponents is trying to stop the controversial drilling technique by another strategy, reaching out to Governor Cuomo's supporters.
Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting has written to 1,000 of the governor's largest financial contributors asking them to help convince Cuomo to abandon a plan to allow fracking in 5 Southern Tier counties. The letter is co-signed by Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan and representatives of three local anti-fracking groups.
Hang says Cuomo is the key to whether the state allows shale gas development. "It's absolutely well-known that the Governor listens to people who are his biggest campaign contributors. Many of these people are very important political players. They've been around, in many cases, for decades."
Hang says he mailed the letters on Tuesday so they should be arriving in donors mailboxes Wednesday.
Trying to Stop Possible Isolated Drilling
Some anti-fracking environmental leaders are reaching out to Governor Andrew Cuomo's top campaign contributors to say unless drilling is safe everywhere, it is not safe anywhere.
Discussion of the possibility of sporadic drilling in the Southern Tier started on June 13, when the New York Times reported that the Cuomo Administration is pursuing a plan to allow drilling in communities that want it.
In an effort to take action before this possible proposal takes hold, local anti-fracking leaders have sent letters to Governor Cuomo's 1,000 biggest campaign contributors.
"We are doing everything we can to make that they understand that residents of the Southern Tier should not be treated as second class citizens with regard to shale gas fracking," said [Walter] Hang of Toxics Targeting. "If it's not safe for everywhere in New York, it certainly isn't safe in the five counties."
In addition to the letters, 3,000 signatures have also been sent directly to Governor Cuomo.
Towns advised to make the call on gas drilling
NORWICH - An advisory committee on natural gas has for the second time refused to push forward a landowner group's request that Chenango County endorse the New York State Department of Conservation's ability to safely harvest natural gas.
The Central New York Landowners Coalition, which is comprised of large swaths of leased land in Chenango County, some of it already producing natural gas, offered up a resolution for the committee's adoption at the end of last month and again on Tuesday.
CNYLC's resolution affirms cooperation with the state's efforts to safely harvest natural gas and safeguard our vast number of invested landowners from unnecessary delays in permitting due to questioned local sentiment. The group claims to represent 400,000 acres and about 20 percent of the land in every township.
Riding the wave of pro-drilling sentiment coming out of Albany in the last few weeks, landowners and coalitions in favor of drilling are hoping to rush through local-level legislation to affirm cooperation with the DEC once it completes new permitting rules. DEC Commissioner Joseph Martens recently stated where there is less resistance and less opposition, and no local land-use in place, areas in the Southern Tier (where the Marcellus is deep enough to drill) would be permitted first. Governor Cuomo just last week expressed confidence in the DEC, stating that the nearly four-year review and revised 900-page draft comprehensive plan for safe development of natural gas will be ready to go shortly.
Fearing water contamination, opposition groups have called for a halt to the review and a complete ban on drilling in New York. Environmental regulators have been compiling and composing safe drilling procedures since 2008, when concerns were raised about high-volume hydraulic fracturing, the method which made it economically feasible to extract oil and gas from the Marcellus and other shales formation. Fracking, as it's called, unlocks trapped gas by injecting a well with millions of gallons of highly pressurized water mixed with a solution of soap, sand and chemicals that some worry has the potential to contaminate drinking water.
So far, no towns in Chenango County have banned drilling, though a petition to do so is on the table in Plymouth and councilmen in German are poised to adopt a law stipulating only non-frack solutions be employed when drilling. Most townships have been hosting speakers to learn more about fracking. The Town of Guilford is in the process of writing a comprehensive land use plan.
The composition of supervisors attending the Chenango County Natural Gas Advisory Committee's has fluctuated since being formed in 2009. Supervisors representing the towns of German, Smyrna, Preston, and Guilford sat around the table this week. Most agreed with opinion of German Supervisor Richard Schlag that the committee must stay neutral and that the DEC isn't capable of handling the activity.
All but Preston's Peter C. Flanagan, who is chair of the committee, opposed CNYLC's suggested resolution. Flanagan said he believed the DEC can permit the activity "with a high degree of safety." He did, however, also say he "couldn't support something I haven't seen."
"New York State has stifled gas drilling. They have not had the political courage to make the call. Now they are doing the Pontius Pilate thing. You want it, you do it. … We advise towns that they'd better make the call," he said.
Guilford Supervisor George Seneck said addressing the issue before his town board has been difficult.
"My board is reluctant to address the issue or even put it on the agenda. We are worried about pitting the hamlet (of Guilford) against the large landowners," he said. "Keeping up with leases here, figuring out who the large landowners are, whether they are in the coalition, whether they are really paying the majority of the taxes … It's been very difficult to research all of it."
CNYLC President Brian Conover suggested that the full board of supervisors might have a different sentiment about proceeding with the DEC's document. He said towns don't have the finances, time or expertise to develop their own 900-page study.
"Sadly, the governor has put this in the town's laps. We've worked in this county more than any other group to try to understand all of the complexities surrounding the process. Are you really concerned that this will ruin the county? We've already had it here without a whole lot of hoopla."
Conover compared the argument to deferring to New York State hunting and fishing regulations. "Let's hunt what we want or say no hunting here. The state would never go for that. What if we say let's give birth control in the feed to control the deer population? I don't think so."
"I agree that the pros have some misinformation as well as the antis … and that's we traditionally defer to a third party … the DEC," he said.
Saying the information presented at many town boards about hydraulic fracturing and natural gas drilling is "mostly flawed" and orchestrated by individuals from outside the region, Chenango County Natural Gas Consultant Steven Palmatier said, "It is a legal activity. It's here. If there's an environmental Armageddon here, I don't see it." Chenango County Farm Bureau President Bradd Vickers also weighed in favor of the county expressing a pro-drilling stance.
Two other resolutions were adopted for consideration by the full board of supervisors, however. One opposes the forest focus and grassland designations contained within previous drafts of the DEC's plan. The other moves forward with officially adopting the a county road use agreement. The full board will consider both for adoption as early as next month, provided they make it through the standard committee process.
Well activity in Chenango County
1888 First drilled well in the Town of Norwich
1940s-2003 Minimal activity
2003 to present:
58 natural gas wells drilled
38 Active
20 In various stages (inactive, shut-in, temp. abandon, permanently abandoned/plugged)
6 are Utica wells
5 horizontal for high volume hydraulic fracturing.
20 Applications currently pending:
2 Herkimer (sandstone) formation
12 Marcellus Shale formation (4-vertical, 8-horizontal)
6 Utica Shale formation (1-vertical, 5-horizontal)
Numerous well applications cancelled or expired.
Chenango County Planning Department anticipates that all future applications will be for the Utica formation.
Assembly anti-frackers are unhappy with Cuomo report
Reaction to a story in this morning’s NY Times that the Cuomo Administration wants to move ahead with hydrofracking in selected Southern Tier and central NY counties and only where the local communities wants gas development, was harsh and swift among several Assembly Democrats who are pretty much opposed to the idea of drilling.
“Hydrofracking will affect all of the state,” said Long Island’s Michelle Schimel who joined several others including Ithaca’s Barbara Lifton, Westchester’s Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, as well as Assembly members Robert Johns of the Rochester area, Long Island’s Steve Englebright. Also participating were Assembly members Robert Rodriguez, Jim Brennan, Linda Rosenthal, Daniel O’Donnell and Deborah Glick from New York City.
“The people in my district are adamantly opposed to this process moving ahead,” said O’Donnell.
Lifton like others explained that they view hydraulic fracturing as a statewide issue. (There were no representatives from the counties that, according to the Times, are being considered for drilling: Broome, Chenango, Chemung, Steuben and Tioga).
Others noted that hydrofracking will involve trucking materials and chemicals across the state. There also are fears about how drilling will impact water tables.
So far, the Cuomo administration is remaining mum on the story, although it has all the earmarks of what we in the news business call a leaked trial balloon in which officials quietly put out a story to gauge reaction. (Gannett had earlier reported a similar story but it hasn’t seemed to spark the same response).
Certainly, there’s a political aspect to this in addition to the purely environmental concerns.
Walter Hang, who runs a data base firm, Toxics Targeting, noted that the fallout and rapid response by lawmakers could be viewed as a signal to the governor more input is needed on this.
“For the first time it says an equal partner in government is not going to let this go on,” remarked Hang.
Here’s a release from Lifton about the affair:
Seventy state legislators from both houses and both parties are calling on Governor Cuomo to resolve six critical issues before permitting Marcellus Shale horizontal hydraulic fracturing to begin in New York State. These issues are not adequately addressed by the Revised Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) that the New York Department of Environmental Conservation is currently reviewing pursuant to Executive Order No. 41.
“It is clear that the SGEIS, as we have seen it, insufficiently addresses the effects that this heavy industry could have on New York families,” said Assemblywoman Lifton (D/WF 125), who authored and spearheaded the letter. “Until these critical issues are resolved, we must send the SGEIS back to the drawing board. This document may be our last line of defense from heavy industry in our backyards — we only get one chance at this.”
The six issues the letter highlights are as follows:
1) Requiring Environmental Quality Review regarding Hydraulic Fracturing utilizing Liquid Propane Gas, which may soon be used in Tioga County without having been addressed in any SEQR Environmental Impact Statement.
2) Requiring an environmental quality report for all New York State mortgage lending programs. Lenders and local governments around the State have voiced concerns about the impact of fracking on property values and tax revenue generation.
3) Rescinding New York’s Natural Gas Hazardous Waste Regulatory Exemption, which, despite the highly-toxic waste that hydrofracking produces, allows drilling fluids to be exempt from waste regulations.
4) Banning “recycling” of natural gas drilling wastewater that exceeds GA Effluent Limitations. Under current law, gas drilling wastewater is allowed to be injected into wells to “facilitate oil, gas, salt, or geothermal resources.” This water can contaminate public drinking supplies and has recently been associated with causing earthquakes in Ohio
5) Banning natural gas drilling wastewater landspreading and dumping in municipal wastewater treatment plants. Currently, contaminated wastewater is used to de-ice and stabilize roads and roadbeds. In addition, it is often dumped in municipal wastewater plants that were not constructed to remove the toxic metals, petroleum constituents or radionuclide contained in wastewater.
6) Requiring an independent health study of the effects of HVHF, which the current SGEIS lacks. This has been called for by numerous physicians and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
The letter concludes that the SGEIS does not fulfill the legal requirements set forth by the Environmental Quality Review Act and calls for a continued moratorium until these concerns have been addressed. The letter, sent to the Governor today, is attached.
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Idea of limited NY fracking divides energy camps
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Landowners along New York's southern border who support natural gas drilling are cheered by reports that the Cuomo administration is considering allowing hydraulic fracturing on a limited basis in towns that want it, though opponents call the idea "shameful."
The administration is pursuing a plan to limit the controversial shale gas drilling technology to portions of Broome, Chenango, Steuben and Tioga counties, The New York Times quoted a senior official at the state Department of Environmental Conservation as saying, along with others with knowledge of the situation. That region, along the border with heavily drilled Pennsylvania, is considered most likely to yield significant quantities of natural gas in New York.
The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, which is seeking to lease land for drilling, has persuaded several dozen towns to pass resolutions supporting drilling. Many more towns have passed bans or moratoriums on drilling.
"We're encouraged. It appears as though the administration is trying to move the ball forward," Dan Fitzsimmons, who heads the landowner group, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "There are many communities that are eager to proceed. We've always believed that drilling can be done in an environmentally sound way and that it would be a huge benefit to the economy."
The Times reported that officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because deliberations are continuing.
Cuomo and Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens have declined to give a specific timetable for completion of the environmental review and haven't said definitively whether fracking will be allowed in New York.
"No final decision has been made and no decision will be made until the scientific review is complete and we have all the facts," Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto said Wednesday.
Numerous environmental, health, and community groups are seeking a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which frees gas from shale by injecting a well with millions of gallons of chemically treated water at immense pressure. Opponents of drilling and fracking in the vast Marcellus Shale formation underlying parts of New York, Pennsylvania and other states cite risks of water and air pollution.
"It's absolutely unconscionable that the governor would even think about exposing some New Yorkers to fracking hazards while protecting others," said Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting. "There should be no second-class citizens when it comes to shale gas fracking in New York."
A coalition of scientists, physicians, environmentalists and elected officials has gathered more than 2,300 signatures on a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo opposing plans for any demonstration project or other plan to allow shale gas development on a limited basis. Proponents have suggested such a plan as an alternative to wide-scale development.
"Partitioning our state into frack and no-frack zones based on economic desperation is a shameful idea, and we will actively oppose its implementation," said Sandra Steingraber, founder of New Yorkers Against Fracking.
The state has not permitted shale gas development using horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing since it began an environmental review in 2008. The review, and new regulations, are expected to be completed this year.
"Certainly it's good news that the administration is looking to begin the permitting process," said Sen. Thomas Libous, a Republican whose Southern Tier district includes most of the territory sought for hydrofracking.
"Obviously, as I've said in the past, there are a number of communities that would welcome it and are very open to it," Libous told the AP. "The only caution is that if I look at my overall district, I have about 22 towns and villages that have already passed some sort of resolution to be supportive of natural gas drilling, but I have over all some 30,000 landowners who certainly have identical rights over whether or not they would want to sign leases to move forward."
"Our position is anything that moves the issue forward is a good sign," said Jim Smith, spokesman for the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York. "We would support a program that allows industry to prove what we've been saying all along — that drilling can be done safely in New York."