NORWICH – Chenango County officials may have the opportunity to speak about the environmental impact of natural gas and oil drilling at a public hearing tomorrow morning in Albany.

The New York State Assembly’s Environmental Conservation Committee hearing will examine the environmental protections needed in the Department of Environmental Conservation’s new natural gas and oil drilling regulations. The demand for the estimated $1 trillion worth of natural gas reserves in New York’s portion of the Marcellus shale formation has led to increased and robust exploration and drilling.

Supervisors James B. Bays, D-Smyrna, and Peter C. Flanagan, D-Preston, will attend and, if asked, provide testimony. The two prepared for the upcoming hearing at a meeting of the county’s special natural gas committee last week.

Some items Bays and Flanagan intend to recommend are: closed loop drilling to reduce water use, a tracking system for drilling refuse haulers that are rejected at treatment plants, and mandates that drilling waste fluids go back to the generator’s pond, and the tailings, or cuttings, later separated and disposed of at hazardous waste dumps.