Chenango's gas committee "way ahead" of other counties, advisor says
NORWICH – An advisory committee tasked with tracking the natural gas industry for Chenango County recently referred matters of safety, private water well testing and land reclamation methods to government standing committees.
The referrals are just the latest on a long list delivered to supervisors, county officials and department heads since the committee was formed in 2008, well before the nation turned its attention to the massive quantities of gas within the Marcellus Shale and the reported environmental damages associated with hydraulic fracturing.
“We are way ahead of the other counties in getting things done,” said Chenango County Natural Gas Industry Consultant Steven Palmatier, who sits on the committee. (To read minutes and see a list of referrals, go to the Chenango County Planning Department website at
www.co.chenango.ny.us/Planning/NewPlanning.htm.)
Chenango County Board of Supervisors Chairman Richard B. Decker, R-N. Norwich, created the advisory committee after receiving numerous complaints from property owners about landmen’s aggressive leasing tactics and a legal challenge for permitting seismic testing along County Rd. 10A in Preston. At about the same time, many supervisors were taken aback upon learning that the county’s attorney and Decker had signed - without consulting town supervisors - a compulsory integration agreement in a Norse Energy Inc. spacing unit, also in Preston.
Norse Energy Inc., a Norwegian company that has offices in Buffalo, has 180,000 net acres of mineral rights in New York. In Chenango County, it has pipeline infrastructure that supports 28 active wells in Smyrna, six in Plymouth, and two in Preston. Norse commenced drilling this fall and projects seven more wells by the end of the year and 30 next year.
Much of the Natural Gas Advisory Committee’s focus has been on road usage, seismic testing, pipeline boring and driveway permitting along the county’s 8,000 plus acres of rights-of-way, 184 acres of which it owns outright. Discussions held and information gleaned has helped at least two towns create their own testing laws. At the county highway department, some energy companies’ permit conditions have been more thoroughly scrutinized, and one permit was actually revoked when a testing company failed to employ proper safety flags.
In the towns, the committee’s conversations have led to road use agreements with Norse Energy. Roads damaged due to heavy truck traffic have been repaired at the company’s expense. The highway superintendent in Plymouth, Peter Marshall, said the town “has a good working relationship with Norse.” The company paid the town to repair damages to the Boos Law Road, and road agreements have been drawn up for the South Road and Pigeon Hill Road.
Legally, towns have the authority to govern many aspects of road use, but the county does not. Members of the committee have repeatedly questioned the “right” to grant testing permits. Supervisor Peter C. Flanagan, D-Preston, who chairs the advisory committee, recently commented: “It’s not a question about the authority to grant a permit, but rather do we have the right? It becomes a property rights issue ... do we give companies the right to collect information on the minerals underneath the ground? We shouldn’t be doing this without consent of the landowners and mineral rights owners. I think it is unsettled law in New York. In Texas, it’s against the law.”
The committee has recommended a road use agreement that energy companies would have to follow when requesting permits to test along county roads. The matter was referred to Chenango County Attorney Richard Breslin early on.
On the issue of public safety, Chenango County Emergency Management Services Director Matt Beckwith was asked to give 911 address to well sites, compression/processing sites and material staging areas prior to construction. The address would provide first responders with a precise address should an emergency occur, Palmatier said.
Because too often satellite phones used at drilling sites do not connect to local 911 services, the committee suggested that EMS provide 10 digit phone numbers to drilling companies and contractors. At last month’s meeting, the Chenango County Safety and Rules Committee was asked to see whether property owners could be given 911 addresses when they file for driveway permits (for gas companies to access the well site).
At least one member of the committee has repeatedly expressed his frustration that the county’s EMS director and attorney have not attended the meetings. Supervisor James Bays, D-Smynra, said legal and safety-related facts could be better relayed, especially to the growing number of anti-drillers and environmental activists who have been attending meetings in greater numbers each month.
“We want emergency management folks to please try to encourage someone to attend our meetings. They should be here. So much of what we do here is a matter of safety. We could have these questions answered,” said Bays.
The committee has been denied maps of both Norse’s and TEPPCO lines from Beckwith, as has The Evening Sun following a Freedom of Information request. Beckwith cited security reasons in his response to the paper, but indicated that the Chenango County Bureau of Fire does indeed have the maps in its possession.
To prepare for the possible onslaught of hydraulic fracturing of shale in the future, the committee has recommended testing private water wells for existing concentration of heavy metals, nitrates, nitrites, benzene, and toluene. Last month, it referred to the Department of Public Health a recommendation to establish guidelines for the testing. All county public health departments would be charged with keeping records on private wells if the state’s environmental review of shale drilling is completed and drilling resumes.
To protect the county’s forests, the committee referred to Ag and Farmland Protection Board and Cornell Cooperative Extension to develop best practices for timber removal and the reclamation of forests, targeting landowners and contractors who clear pad sites and pipeline right of way. The Department of Environmental Health was asked to develop best practices for landowners/contractors for reclamation of well pads/pipeline to enhance its value to wildlife by reseeding sites as well as prevent the potential spread of invasive species from site to site.
The committee entertained multiple questions from citizens who asked about the water, soil and air quality hazards associated with drilling, and the county’s position on permitting seismic testing and pipeline construction. The controversial hydraulic fracturing drilling technique used to target the Marcellus Shale is not employed in Chenango County, but many believe it will be once the DEC’s permitting regulations are updated and companies expand their reaches north from Pennsylvania.
The referrals are just the latest on a long list delivered to supervisors, county officials and department heads since the committee was formed in 2008, well before the nation turned its attention to the massive quantities of gas within the Marcellus Shale and the reported environmental damages associated with hydraulic fracturing.
“We are way ahead of the other counties in getting things done,” said Chenango County Natural Gas Industry Consultant Steven Palmatier, who sits on the committee. (To read minutes and see a list of referrals, go to the Chenango County Planning Department website at
www.co.chenango.ny.us/Planning/NewPlanning.htm.)
Chenango County Board of Supervisors Chairman Richard B. Decker, R-N. Norwich, created the advisory committee after receiving numerous complaints from property owners about landmen’s aggressive leasing tactics and a legal challenge for permitting seismic testing along County Rd. 10A in Preston. At about the same time, many supervisors were taken aback upon learning that the county’s attorney and Decker had signed - without consulting town supervisors - a compulsory integration agreement in a Norse Energy Inc. spacing unit, also in Preston.
Norse Energy Inc., a Norwegian company that has offices in Buffalo, has 180,000 net acres of mineral rights in New York. In Chenango County, it has pipeline infrastructure that supports 28 active wells in Smyrna, six in Plymouth, and two in Preston. Norse commenced drilling this fall and projects seven more wells by the end of the year and 30 next year.
Much of the Natural Gas Advisory Committee’s focus has been on road usage, seismic testing, pipeline boring and driveway permitting along the county’s 8,000 plus acres of rights-of-way, 184 acres of which it owns outright. Discussions held and information gleaned has helped at least two towns create their own testing laws. At the county highway department, some energy companies’ permit conditions have been more thoroughly scrutinized, and one permit was actually revoked when a testing company failed to employ proper safety flags.
In the towns, the committee’s conversations have led to road use agreements with Norse Energy. Roads damaged due to heavy truck traffic have been repaired at the company’s expense. The highway superintendent in Plymouth, Peter Marshall, said the town “has a good working relationship with Norse.” The company paid the town to repair damages to the Boos Law Road, and road agreements have been drawn up for the South Road and Pigeon Hill Road.
Legally, towns have the authority to govern many aspects of road use, but the county does not. Members of the committee have repeatedly questioned the “right” to grant testing permits. Supervisor Peter C. Flanagan, D-Preston, who chairs the advisory committee, recently commented: “It’s not a question about the authority to grant a permit, but rather do we have the right? It becomes a property rights issue ... do we give companies the right to collect information on the minerals underneath the ground? We shouldn’t be doing this without consent of the landowners and mineral rights owners. I think it is unsettled law in New York. In Texas, it’s against the law.”
The committee has recommended a road use agreement that energy companies would have to follow when requesting permits to test along county roads. The matter was referred to Chenango County Attorney Richard Breslin early on.
On the issue of public safety, Chenango County Emergency Management Services Director Matt Beckwith was asked to give 911 address to well sites, compression/processing sites and material staging areas prior to construction. The address would provide first responders with a precise address should an emergency occur, Palmatier said.
Because too often satellite phones used at drilling sites do not connect to local 911 services, the committee suggested that EMS provide 10 digit phone numbers to drilling companies and contractors. At last month’s meeting, the Chenango County Safety and Rules Committee was asked to see whether property owners could be given 911 addresses when they file for driveway permits (for gas companies to access the well site).
At least one member of the committee has repeatedly expressed his frustration that the county’s EMS director and attorney have not attended the meetings. Supervisor James Bays, D-Smynra, said legal and safety-related facts could be better relayed, especially to the growing number of anti-drillers and environmental activists who have been attending meetings in greater numbers each month.
“We want emergency management folks to please try to encourage someone to attend our meetings. They should be here. So much of what we do here is a matter of safety. We could have these questions answered,” said Bays.
The committee has been denied maps of both Norse’s and TEPPCO lines from Beckwith, as has The Evening Sun following a Freedom of Information request. Beckwith cited security reasons in his response to the paper, but indicated that the Chenango County Bureau of Fire does indeed have the maps in its possession.
To prepare for the possible onslaught of hydraulic fracturing of shale in the future, the committee has recommended testing private water wells for existing concentration of heavy metals, nitrates, nitrites, benzene, and toluene. Last month, it referred to the Department of Public Health a recommendation to establish guidelines for the testing. All county public health departments would be charged with keeping records on private wells if the state’s environmental review of shale drilling is completed and drilling resumes.
To protect the county’s forests, the committee referred to Ag and Farmland Protection Board and Cornell Cooperative Extension to develop best practices for timber removal and the reclamation of forests, targeting landowners and contractors who clear pad sites and pipeline right of way. The Department of Environmental Health was asked to develop best practices for landowners/contractors for reclamation of well pads/pipeline to enhance its value to wildlife by reseeding sites as well as prevent the potential spread of invasive species from site to site.
The committee entertained multiple questions from citizens who asked about the water, soil and air quality hazards associated with drilling, and the county’s position on permitting seismic testing and pipeline construction. The controversial hydraulic fracturing drilling technique used to target the Marcellus Shale is not employed in Chenango County, but many believe it will be once the DEC’s permitting regulations are updated and companies expand their reaches north from Pennsylvania.
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