New York may ban gas drilling in watersheds, state land
ALBANY – New York environmental officials have proposed a ban on drilling for natural gas with hydraulic fracturing in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds and on all state-owned lands while permitting it on private land only under “rigorous and effective controls” codified into state law.
The hydraulic fracturing process extracts natural gas from shale by pumping water, chemicals and sand into the ground to create fissures in the rock and release the gas.
The Department of Environmental Conservation released details of major revisions Thursday afternoon, and will give its recommendations to Gov. Andrew Cuomo today, the same day an executive order prohibiting “hydrofracking” expires.
“This report strikes the right balance between protecting our environment, watersheds and drinking water and promoting economic development,” DEC Commissioner Joe Martens said in a prepared statement yesterday.
He said the areas that would be off-limits to drilling comprise about 15 percent of New York’s part of the Marcellus Shale, a natural gas-rich rock formation that also underlies parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
The DEC’s supplemental environmental study and revised draft recommendations will be subject to further public comment and revisions, a process likely to take months during which there will be no hydraulic fracturing.
An 800-page draft version of the study released in 2009 drew more than 13,000 comments. The 2011 version is more than 900 pages long and includes about 150 more pages of data and analysis than the 2009 report. Among the major changes are:
• High-volume hydraulic fracturing would be prohibited in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds, which rely on surface reservoirs, including a buffer area around them.
• Drilling would be prohibited within primary aquifers and within 500 feet of their boundaries.
• Drilling would be prohibited on state land including parks, forest areas and wildlife management areas.
• Wastewater from wells and other drilling waste would be subject to monitoring similar to that used for medical waste.
• Drillers would be required to fully disclose all chemical additives used in the hydrofracking process.
• DEC will issue regulations to codify the recommendations into state law.
Currently, the state uses a Generic Environmental Impact Statement to spell out permitting rules for gas wells. The document allows drillers to avoid having to do a costly and time-consuming environmental impact study for each well. Environmental groups have pressed DEC to codify that document into state law, which provides a stronger regulatory framework.
In response to the DEC’s press release regarding their review of hydraulic fracturing, Brian Conover, president of the Central New York Landowners Coalition issued the following statement:
“There is no other governmental or activist agency, whether state or federal, that has spent more time, money and study to completely understand all the elements of gas drilling than our state DEC. They are scientists, not politicians or activists, that have worked diligently to handle this topic with solid, empirical data. A review of their summary statement, which was released last night, shows that they are creating in our state the safest environment in which to harvest natural gas. It is quite evident from this statement that they have gone over-the-top in an effort to appease anti-gas activists groups while also respecting the constitutional, legal and deeded rights of landowners to their mineral development.
The CNYLC represents the pro-drilling landowners of approximately 150,000 acres primarily in Chenango and Otsego counties.
Erin Heaton, organizer for the Chenango Community Action For Renewal Energy, said the organization “understands the need to protect the surface drinking water supplies of New York City and Syracuse, but are somewhat dismayed that similar surface drinking water supplies in Chenango County, such as Chenango Lake, Guilford Lake and others, may not be afforded the same protections.”
“Moreover, the proposed set back of 500 feet from private wells and domestic springs is known to be insufficient based on a recent Duke University study that demonstrates that methane may migrate as much as a mile,” she wrote.
The hydraulic fracturing process extracts natural gas from shale by pumping water, chemicals and sand into the ground to create fissures in the rock and release the gas.
The Department of Environmental Conservation released details of major revisions Thursday afternoon, and will give its recommendations to Gov. Andrew Cuomo today, the same day an executive order prohibiting “hydrofracking” expires.
“This report strikes the right balance between protecting our environment, watersheds and drinking water and promoting economic development,” DEC Commissioner Joe Martens said in a prepared statement yesterday.
He said the areas that would be off-limits to drilling comprise about 15 percent of New York’s part of the Marcellus Shale, a natural gas-rich rock formation that also underlies parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
The DEC’s supplemental environmental study and revised draft recommendations will be subject to further public comment and revisions, a process likely to take months during which there will be no hydraulic fracturing.
An 800-page draft version of the study released in 2009 drew more than 13,000 comments. The 2011 version is more than 900 pages long and includes about 150 more pages of data and analysis than the 2009 report. Among the major changes are:
• High-volume hydraulic fracturing would be prohibited in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds, which rely on surface reservoirs, including a buffer area around them.
• Drilling would be prohibited within primary aquifers and within 500 feet of their boundaries.
• Drilling would be prohibited on state land including parks, forest areas and wildlife management areas.
• Wastewater from wells and other drilling waste would be subject to monitoring similar to that used for medical waste.
• Drillers would be required to fully disclose all chemical additives used in the hydrofracking process.
• DEC will issue regulations to codify the recommendations into state law.
Currently, the state uses a Generic Environmental Impact Statement to spell out permitting rules for gas wells. The document allows drillers to avoid having to do a costly and time-consuming environmental impact study for each well. Environmental groups have pressed DEC to codify that document into state law, which provides a stronger regulatory framework.
In response to the DEC’s press release regarding their review of hydraulic fracturing, Brian Conover, president of the Central New York Landowners Coalition issued the following statement:
“There is no other governmental or activist agency, whether state or federal, that has spent more time, money and study to completely understand all the elements of gas drilling than our state DEC. They are scientists, not politicians or activists, that have worked diligently to handle this topic with solid, empirical data. A review of their summary statement, which was released last night, shows that they are creating in our state the safest environment in which to harvest natural gas. It is quite evident from this statement that they have gone over-the-top in an effort to appease anti-gas activists groups while also respecting the constitutional, legal and deeded rights of landowners to their mineral development.
The CNYLC represents the pro-drilling landowners of approximately 150,000 acres primarily in Chenango and Otsego counties.
Erin Heaton, organizer for the Chenango Community Action For Renewal Energy, said the organization “understands the need to protect the surface drinking water supplies of New York City and Syracuse, but are somewhat dismayed that similar surface drinking water supplies in Chenango County, such as Chenango Lake, Guilford Lake and others, may not be afforded the same protections.”
“Moreover, the proposed set back of 500 feet from private wells and domestic springs is known to be insufficient based on a recent Duke University study that demonstrates that methane may migrate as much as a mile,” she wrote.
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