GUILFORD – A representative of Norse Energy gave a brief presentation during Wednesday’s Guilford Town Council meeting in an effort by the company to become more involved in the conversation about natural gas exploration in the region.
“We’re really trying to make our rounds and increase our public presence,” explained Scott Ives, a public relations representative for the Norwegian company which is the primary player in Chenango County’s budding natural gas industry. Company representatives have already visited several other local municipalities, including Coventry, Smyrna, Preston, Smithville and the Village of Oxford, he said.
Ives’ 15-minute presentation focused primarily on Norse’s history in the county, and the life cycle of a typical natural gas well.
“[We] have been active in Central New York since 1996,” he reported, explaining that the company’s present activities are concentrated in northern Chenango and southern Madison counties. Norse’s lease holdings, which encompass some 135,000 acres in Central New York, also extend into the rest of Chenango as well as northern Broome County, he said.
Ives then detailed the life cycle of a well, from the pre-planning, permitting stages and site selection stages as well as the drilling process, completion procedures and, finally, restoration of the site.
He also touched upon some of the more controversial aspects surrounding natural gas exploration, namely hydro-fracking and compulsory integration.
“There is a lot of misinformation about hyrdraulic fracturing,” Ives said.
According to the Norse representative, claims that companies do not have to reveal the chemical compounds used in the process are not “entirely accurate.” By law, Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) must be filed for each of these compounds, which he said make up .5 percent of the fluids used in the process, used to open tiny fissures in the shale formation so natural gas can be extracted. The remaining 99.5 percent of the solution is comprised of water and sand, which is used as a “propping agent” to keep the fissures open long enough for the gas to be released.
“Presently our Herkimer wells ... are coming in naturally,” he said, explaining that the process was not used on the company’s vertically and horizontally drilled wells in northern Chenango and southern Madison.
Guilford resident Dr. Ken Fogarty, who has long been involved in the local conversation about natural gas exploration, was the first to comment following Ives’ presentation.
“Of course, it looks very small,” Fogarty said, referring to the percentage of the fracking solution made up of chemical compounds. “But when you multiply that (by the 80,000 to 3 million gallons used in the hydro-fracking process)...”
Ives agreed that the numbers translate into gallons.
“Every measure is taken to capture them and treat them appropriately,” he assured.
Fogarty also questioned whether Norse was required by law to work with land owners on the placement of access roads and well pads, or if this was just a company policy.
“As far as Norse is concerned, we have always worked with the land owner,” Ives said, explaining that they believe in being “good neighbors.”
Fogarty also sought assurances that the Norwegian company would not sell the leases agreements they have with local property owners to another interest, which might not have the same philosophy.
While he did not go so far as to provide such an assurance, Ives did say that the region was the “only play” with which Norse was currently involved.
“The company has made a strong commitment to this region.”
Guilford Supervisor George Seneck asked a question which prompted Ives to give a cursory explanation of compulsory integration using a hypothetical 100-acre spacing unit.
“At least 60 percent of that acreage (must be) under lease to go forward with integration,” the public relations representative said. The property owners controlling the remaining property have three options to choose from, each with differing levels of compensation and liability. The most common, he reported, was for the owner in question to enter into a lease agreement, although they also have the option of becoming either a participating or a non-participating owner in the well.
Fogarty expressed frustration over the practice, despite its sanction by the State of New York, as it forces participation even by those who “do not wish to be a part of the enterprise.”
“It is a form of trespass,” he said.
Ives said it was preferable to the policies of other states, explaining that it was “designed to protect ... landowners from the alternative, the law of capture.” Under this policy, minerals can be extracted from un-leased property from neighboring parcels without any compensation.
At the conclusion of his portion of the agenda, Ives extended an invitation to Guilford’s town leaders to tour one of Norse’s well sites in Chenango County.