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Walter Hang Interview - The Capitol Pressroom for May 20, 2011
Activist Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting recently sent a letter to Governor Cuomo about mortgage lenders and hydrofracking. What could they possibly have in common? We will tell you.
A post from The Capitol Pressroom which includes a partial transcript of the interview and the letter sent to Governor Cuomo in its entirety.
Does Natural Gas Leasing Hurt Property Values?
QUESTION — Does natural gas leasing hurt property values?
ANSWER – There is some damning evidence that it does.
Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting joined us on the Capitol Pressroom last Friday 5/20 to discuss this issue. He spoke with several banking institutions about their rules surrounding lending money for both residential and commercial land investment, and the results are on his website.
Here are the highlights:
- “Gas/oil leases are generally NOT (emphasis in the original) accepted by lenders such as Wells, First Place Bank, Provident Funding, GMAC, FNCB, Fidelity, FHA, First Liberty or Bank of America. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to the meet the ‘acceptable if commonly granted’ rule.”
- “Surface or sub surface rights within 200 feet of a residential structure would not be acceptable for conventional financing in the Secondary market.”
- “NYS title insurance gas endorsements specifically void title insurance coverage if the premises are used for any commercial venture.”
- “Lenders are responsible to warrant several items to the investor in the Secondary market that can not be done leaving lenders with significant liability.”
- “Surface or sub surface rights within 300 feet of a residential structure OR within 300 feet of property boundary lines would not be acceptable for FHA [Federal Housing Administration] (Department of HUD [Housing and Urban Development]) financing.”
On Monday I confirmed that Assemblymember Barbara Lifton was so concerned about how gas leasing might affect land values in Tompkins County, that she met with three members of the Governor’s staff to bring them up to date: Jim Malatras, Tony Giardina and Tom Congdon. I still haven’t had any confirmation from the Governor’s office. I am also still waiting to hear what they intend to do about this issue.
According to Lifton, gas drillers – at one time – did let people bow out of their leases if they were looking to move and borrow money. But those days are over. Now that the industry is required to have leases on 60% of all land within a ”spacing unit” it has been hesitant to allow land owners out of those leases.
The Capitol Pressroom for May 10, 2011
And why is the Independent Oil & Gas Association in Albany this week? We will speak with Lenape’s John Holko about state legislation that has piqued the interest of the gas-drilling industry, and who they are lobbying.
Marcellus Shale forum in Wellsville draws over 200
More than 200 people interested in finding out the facts about hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale area attended a forum on the campus of Alfred State College Saturday.
The four-hour forum included experts from the drilling industry, a health researcher, a consultant opposed to hydrofracking and county Legislator Kevin LaForge of Wellsville, chairman of the county Special Communications & Technology Ad Hoc Committee. In Central and Western New York, Marcellus Shale stretches about 6,000 feet below the surface.
Organizer Brent Kelley said he was pleased with the turnout.
Mike Atchie, local government specialist for the Chesapeake Energy Corporation, described the drilling process and the precautions his company routinely puts in place to prevent spills and leaks. The precautions include a closed-loop system to reuse fracking fluid. Chesapeake Energy currently has 24 productive gas wells in Northern Pennsylvania.
Matthew Cortese, a researcher on the health impacts of hydrofracking, said the gas captured in the Marcellus Shale is not captured in pockets, so vertical drilling does not work. Marcellus Shale gas is molecular. Hydrofracking is necessary to force the gas molecules out of the shale into fractures, allowing it to be recovered, Cortese said. However, he said, there are 900 or more different chemicals that can be used in fracking fluids. Not all of the health impacts on water and air from those chemicals have been thoroughly studied.
“I’m not against drilling. I’m not against fracking. I think we shouldn’t do it under the current regulations,” he said.
There is a moratorium in New York state against Marcellus Shale drilling until the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Draft Impact Statement is completed. Walter Hang, principal and consultant for Toxics Targeting, said the document (originally to be released in June) will not be released until the end of the summer. He predicted that after a comment period of 30 to 90 days, it will take another year before the state enacts regulations for drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
However, while Cortese suggested even more studies to clarify health impacts, Art Van Tyne, a local geologist, and Jack Liguori of Rushford, a former pilot, disagreed.
Liguori said, “Sometimes you have to start moving ahead to solve the problems.”
Van Tyne stated, “There may be problems if you sat and drank this stuff (hydrofracking fluid), but there are warnings on your toothpaste tubes to not swallow it. If we continue studying this, we may not get any drilling at all and there is an economic benefit to drilling in the Marcellus Shale.”
Cheryl Green of Hornell is part owner of a family farm in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Marcellus Shale drilling has gone on for over two years there.
“God only created so much land and we are the keepers of the land,” she said.
DEC Commissioner: Gas drilling regs a tough issue for the agency
ALBANY(AP) - The new head of New York's Department of Environmental Conservation believes that gas drilling in the massive Marcellus Shale formation is the most daunting environmental issue the agency has faced in its 40-year history, and he's hopeful rules will soon be in place to address the potential impact.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Joe Martens said DEC staff will meet twice each week starting in early April and through the summer to complete a new environmental impact statement for gas drilling that addresses issues raised in the 13,000 comments received on the 809-page first draft completed in September 2009.
New York has had a moratorium on gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale since 2008 while the new rules are being developed for high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," which injects millions of gallons of chemical-laced water into shale thousands of feet underground to create cracks that release natural gas.
Environmental groups and others who fear fracking will contaminate drinking water supplies have implored DEC to hold off on permitting Marcellus drilling until the Environmental Protection Agency completes a review of the technology.
Before being appointed DEC commissioner, Martens was head of the land-preservation group Open Space Institute and was among those calling for New York to wait for the EPA.
Gas industry backers, including landowners and elected officials in the Southern Tier eager to reap the economic benefits of an anticipated gas boom like that seen across the border in Pennsylvania, fear Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Martens will delay and hinder it.
In an executive order before he left office, former Gov. David Paterson directed DEC to complete its drilling guidelines by June 1. Martens said Wednesday that wasn't a hard deadline and that the work would likely continue through the summer. Then there will be a public comment period of at least 30 days.
"We have to figure out just how long we want to make that comment period," Martens said. "If our revisions are extensive, and I think they will be, we'll allow more time for public comment. Then we'll take time to digest those comments before we put out a final document that will be the basis for the regulatory program."
He didn't rule out various options called for by environmental groups.
"Some people say we should reopen the process. We're looking at all of that," Martens said. "We're trying to solicit and digest all the information we can and put it into a document that addresses all the concerns raised to date. It's a really formidable task."
Martens said New York's permitting guidelines will address problems that have been seen in other states, particularly Pennsylvania, where Marcellus Shale drilling and fracking has been blamed for contamination of water wells and rivers.
With the state's budget and staffing cuts, w hich have hit DEC particularly hard, critics say the agency isn't prepared to handle the volume of drilling permit applications that will come after the moratorium is lifted. Martens doesn't see that as a problem.
"We will only deal with the number of permits that we have the staff to handle," he said. "So if we can only handle 10 applications a year, we'll do 10, even if 150 come in the door.
"Both the industry and the environmental community want us to have the staff to handle it, so I don't have any concerns about the resources not becoming available."
Rally to expand hydrofracking impact study
As people on both sides of the hydrofracking debate wait for the state's environmental impact statement, one group is calling on the governor to expand the scope of the study. And Thursday, they rallied at the Capitol to share their concerns. Our Erin Connolly has more.
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Armed with signs, people at the capitol Thursday made it clear they aren't fans of hydrofracking, the process of extracting natural gas from underground shale deposits.
Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting said, "I heat my house with gas. I cook with gas. I understand we need energy for our economy. The problem is I'm against pollution."
Ralliers are concerned that currently there are not enough drilling regulations to safeguard public health. They argue hydrofracking is dangerous because it releases hazardous radioactive material.
Wes Gillingham of the Catskill Mountainkeeper said, "What we're setting up is a situation where we're ruining our aquifers. What's more important to living and the economy than clean water."
But drilling advocates say there's no scientific evidence that suggests the process contaminates the land and water supply.
Jim Smith, of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York, said, "The science behind it will tell you hydraulic fracturing is safe. It has been performed a million times and it has never polluted a drop of drinking water. Those are the facts."
Smith also says hydrofracking will prove to have a number of benefits.
Smith said, "Harvesting natural gas isn't only important for national security and energy independence, but economically, it will bring tens of thousands of jobs to New York over the next 30 years."
Those in attendance disagree and want Governor Cuomo to extend the scope of the Marcellus Shale Environmental Impact Statement and continue the moratorium on hydrofracking.
Gillingham said, "The natural gas is down there and it's not going anywhere and we shouldn't allow it to happen until we have proper precautions."
The DEC is expected to release updated drilling regulations in June. That was the deadline set by former Governor David Paterson.