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Public comment period for proposed drilling nears end
Washington (WSYR-TV) - The Environmental Protection Agency says the state's proposed rules for natural gas drilling need some tweaking.
Friday is the final day to comment on the proposed rules.
In the EPA’s comments the agency says it has serious reservations about whether drilling should be allowed in the New York City watershed.
Its also concerned with wastewater treatment and air quality as well as management of natural radioactive materials disturbed during drilling.
Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - There are just two days left to have your say in the state's proposed regulations for natural gas drilling. If adopted, they'll govern how companies would drill in the Marcellus Shale.
Drilling promises big money for the state but some say the environmental impact is too severe.
Environmentalist Walter Hang has collected eight-thousand signatures against the proposed drilling guidelines. An effort he says lets the governor know that not all New Yorkers are for the plan.
“You need to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to do gas drilling safely. The last thing we need is more problems,” Hang said.
Hang said one of the biggest problems is the effect the drilling would have on drinking water since companies would use a process called hydrofracking which uses high pressured water to fracture shale in the ground and releases the natural gas.
With thousands of wells in New York State, however, supporters of the drilling say it will generate more than $1.4 billion in revenue and tens of thousands of jobs.
There is no reason for us to be buying Louisiana’s natural gas when we can drill under our own feet,” Tim Lattimore said. The former mayor of Auburn is part of a state-wide coalition that supports the drilling.
“If we don't do these things that are available to us if we don't do anything to solve the high cost of energy in NY shame on us,” Lattimore said.
The comment period for these proposed drilling guidelines closes on this Thursday.
Mayor Ryan: Gas Drilling Plan Too Narrow to Protect Public Health
Mayor Matt Ryan has joined thousands of legislators who say the DEC's draft on the environmental impacts of natural gas drilling in the area is not good enough.
The mayor says the draft doesn't take into consideration the potential for the Susquehanna River to become polluted.
As a result, the mayor wants the governor to withdraw the DEC's draft.
He says the DEC isn't prepared to handle the possible side effects of water pollution because of the state's budget crisis.
"Where are they going to get the money to put on the kind of stuff they need to monitor this huge amount of activity in this area. They just won't have the people to do it," said Mayor Matt Ryan, Binghamton (D).
Mayor Ryan wrote a letter to the DEC recommending that the agency take several steps to further protect our area and its residents.
BINGHAMTON, NY—Mayor Matt Ryan today formally submitted comments to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in response to the agency’s draft findings for how high-volume hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling to obtain natural gas in the Marcellus Shale would impact the area’s environment and quality of life.
While recognizing that many portions of the draft are appropriate, Mayor Ryan wrote that the DEC must take a series of steps to ensure that this industrial activity does not jeopardize the area’s long-term social, economic and environmental health. Noting how much work remains to be done, the Mayor stated his hope that Governor David Paterson will withdraw the document to allow the DEC sufficient time for a comprehensive review.
“It’s clear that gas drilling has the potential for great economic gains, but it also could produce even greater harm to our public health, infrastructure and environment,” said Mayor Ryan. “While the DEC has done an admirable job within a very restrictive timeframe and challenging political dynamic, a lot more work remains, and we must get this right for the long-term benefit of all residents in our region. I applaud Governor Paterson, many of our state officials and the staff at the DEC for working to minimize the risks while enabling the one-time rewards, and I strongly urge them to act on our recommendations.”
Today, Mayor Ryan also signed onto the Walter Hang letter, which formally requests the Governor to withdraw the draft statement. The letter now has more than 8,000 signatories, including many elected officials at the federal, state and local levels.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE DEC
In his letter to the DEC, Mayor Ryan recommended that the agency take the following steps:
Develop a cumulative impact analysis of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale to understand the full impact that drilling could have on water resources, air quality and infrastructure. This must include a reasonable worst-case scenario and mitigation measures.
Require drillers to submit a “Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Plan,” in which they will explain how they will minimize air pollution.
Establish a process for the handling and disposal of industrial byproducts, especially wastewater.
Ban the use of open-lined pits for waste-water, and require containment storage systems for any and all fluids on site, including fuel, hazardous materials and brine.
The DEC should describe the steps it has taken to consult with Indian Nations residing within the area of proposed development, as required by DEC policy.
Require archeological analysis prior to development, as is mandated for all other forms of public and private development projects.
Ban drilling in the New York City watershed and establish prohibitions on well siting so as to eliminate the possibility of contaminating the source of New York City’s drinking water. The same “zone of prohibition” also should be applied to all upstate drinking water sources.
Impose a severance tax to be directed to a “lock box” fund to support the DEC’s administrative oversight of resource extraction and use.
The draft Environmental Impact Statement should clearly outline the rules and regulations for investigating alleged spills of hazardous materials, enforcement responsibilities and powers, and consequences of violations.
Require drillers to submit a “gathering line” plan that will detail the transmission of gas from the wellhead to a regulated compression station or a regulated and existing transmission line.
Require phased development. Pilot phases located in zones of little or no environmental significance would guide further changes to regulations with limited impact on the local quality of life.
Use market incentives to encourage responsible, safe drilling practices.
Drilling issue started quietly in Tompkins, then went out loud
In Ithaca and Tompkins County, the conversation about natural gas development has been dominated by those opposed to hydro-fracturing and concerned about New York State's environmental regulations.
The year started with just a relatively few activists from Shaleshock, a citizens' coalition concerned about horizontal hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale, presenting at town meetings, writing letters to the editor, and trying to draw attention to an issue that was still under many people's radar.
As the year went on, Shaleshock, the Tompkins County Council of Governments, the League of Women Voters, and others hosted meetings with scientists, environmental attorneys, a New York City environmental planner, people who'd signed gas leases, and those who never would.
In early November, Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, publicized a list of 270 accidents and spills related to oil and gas drilling. The spill reports, pulled from the Department of Environmental Conservation's databases, formed the basis of Hang's argument that the state's newest environmental regulations should be withdrawn until existing regulations are strengthened.
Hang's report generated national attention, including an interview on the radio program "Democracy Now," support from the National Resources Defense Council, and scorn from the gas industry lobbying group Energy in Depth, which sent out a press release in mid-December titled "Lies, Damned Lies, and Walter Hang's Statistics."
A Nov. 19 public hearing at the State Theatre drew 1,000 people, and a Dec. 5 "Life is Water" benefit concert for Shaleshock drew 1,600 and raised $10,000.
Within the past month, organizations such as the Tompkins County Health Department, Environmental Management Council, Tompkins County Legislature, City of Ithaca Common Council, and Ithaca Town Board have all submitted comments intensely critical of the state's gas drilling regulations, and some have gone so far as to say the regulations should be withdrawn and sent back to the drawing board.
Concerns range from wastewater storage and disposal to the unfunded mandate that could be placed on local municipalities to regulate multinational energy corporations.
Gas Industry Willing to Pay for Extra DEC Regulation
ITHACA -- As the end of the year approaches, and with it the end of the Department of Environmental Conservation's public comment period on regulations governing expanded natural gas drilling in New York State, some in the gas industry say they're open to more regulation -- and they're willing to pay for it.
The debate over horizontal fracturing in the Marcellus Shale has been fierce.
Proponents argue it will result in huge economic benefits for the state and country; opponents say the risks could outweigh the rewards if the industry isn't properly regulated.
Now the industry admits that extra regulation is necessary.
Chris Tucker works for a Washington D.C.-based lobbying group called Energy in Depth.
"There's 516 trillion cubic feet of gas and potentially a trillion dollars of revenue," he said.
"It's an economic game changer not just for New York but also potentially for the country.
"We know we have to do it right, we know we're going to be watched like hawks. That's something we welcome. These guys wanna be regulated, and they want to be regulated right," he added.
That means the industry has something in common with environmentalists. They believe the current regulations are insufficient as well.
"The benefits of gas are beyond dispute," according to Walter Hang of Ithaca based environmental group Toxics Targeting. "We have to have energy in America."
"The problem is getting Marcellus Gas could have unprecedented pollution problems."
He believes a number of spills and incidents of contamination he has documented prove that the existing DEC regulations are ineffective, especially since the DEC didn't even know about some of the cases.
Hang's group is pushing for the DEC to withdraw the current Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. He believes the current form of the supplemental statement is flawed and remains insufficient.
He has collected over 8,000 signatures petitioning for the document to be re-drafted.
New York City says Catskill gas drilling risks are too great
ALBANY -- New York City's Department of Environmental Protection called on state officials Wednesday to ban natural gas drilling in the Catskills watershed, saying it would pose too great a risk to the city's upstate drinking water system.
The DEP took that position in response to the state Department of Environmental Conservation's draft regulations on gas drilling in New York's portion of the Marcellus Shale region, which includes parts of the Catskills where reservoirs supply drinking water for 9 million people.
The state is taking public comments on its 800-plus page draft until Dec. 31. The city DEP had withheld comment pending its own lengthy review of the potential risks of gas exploration using hydraulic fracturing, which blasts millions of gallons of chemical-laced water deep into the shale to release trapped gas.
Chesapeake Energy, one of the nation's largest natural gas producers, and the only leaseholder in the watershed region, has said it won't drill there because of opposition from politicians and environmental groups. But opponents have continued to call for a ban, saying the company's word isn't good enough.
"Based on the latest science and available technology, as well as the data and limited analysis presented by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, high-volume hydrofracking and horizontal drilling pose unacceptable threats to the unfiltered fresh water supply of 9 million New Yorkers," acting DEP Commissioner Steven Lawitts said in a prepared statement.
The city has a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that allows it to draw water from its upstate reservoirs without filtration. The city has spent about $1.5 billion to protect the water supply since 1997 and says it would cost at least $10 billion to build a filtration plant if the water supply were to become contaminated.
The Marcellus Shale formation runs through parts of West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. It underlies about 18,700 square miles in southern New York, including the city's entire 1,585-square-mile watershed west of the Hudson River.
The risks cited by the DEP's consulting team include:
* The infrastructure needed to support as many as 3,000 to 6,000 wells would result in millions of truck trips, thousands of acres of site clearing and grading, millions of tons of fracking chemicals, and millions of tons of contaminated wastewater.
* Chemicals injected into deep rock formations can travel for miles along underground fissures to groundwater and ultimately streams that feed reservoirs.
* High-volume hydraulic fracking could damage the city's water supply infrastructure, especially underground water tunnels.
The city also faults the state's document for not analyzing cumulative impacts of the industrial development necessary for drilling and not sufficiently addressing public health concerns.
"We appreciate the input from NYCDEP," said DEC spokesman Yancey Roy. "At this time we are still taking input from the public, and it would not be appropriate to respond to specific comments."
Landowner groups hoping to make millions of dollars from gas leases were frustrated with the city's call for further delays or a ban on drilling. Gas exploration in New York's part of the Marcellus Shale has been on hold for more than a year while the state drafted the new regulations.
Dan Fitzsimmons, leader of a Binghamton-area landowner coalition, pointed out the economic benefits of natural gas production such as low natural gas prices and energized trading on Wall Street. He said the state's regulatory proposal provides adequate safeguards.
"It's really frustrating," he said. "They haven't done their homework in New York City."
Advocates on the other side of the polarizing issue were delighted.
"This is a stupendous development," said Walter Hang, and advocate from Ithaca organizing a movement to stop drilling under the current DEC proposal. "It shows the city is going to do everything it can to protect their reservoirs."
With Bloomberg and the DEP behind it, he added, "it amps up the pressure for the governor to withdraw the draft.
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