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At Odds Over Land, Money and Gas

CHENANGO, N.Y. — Chris and Robert Lacey own 80 acres of idyllic upstate New York countryside, a place where they can fish for bass in their own pond, hike through white pines and chase deer away...

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Gas drilling concerns aired at DEC hearing

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Concerning the Gas Drilling in the Catskills. What needs to be done here locally is for each person who is a member here to copy a page of 15 REASONS WHY THE DEC DRAFT SEGEIS REPORT (THE DRAFT) RELEASED ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2009 NEEDS TO BE REWRITTEN with the url of http://www.catskillmountainkeeper.org/node/1033 and on the front page you make put if everyone made one copy of this and put gave it to someone else the point would get across that we need to pay attention to this issue. I know it sounds so simple,,, but it would work!!!!! If you live here you would also have my point of view,, I don't want it at all!!! ps a good day of hunting, fishing & walking my dog with no leash, is as good as it gets.

link to complete article is here: http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091110/NEWS/911100316/-1/news var isoPubDate = 'November 10, 2009'

Sure, Tuesday's "Kill the Drill" rally in New York City aims to stop gas drilling in the city watershed...

 

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Natural gas quest: State files show 270 drilling accidents in past 30 years

link to complete article is here: http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20091108/NEWS01/911080372&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
By Tom Wilber
[email protected]

The state's depiction of a clean, tightly regulated natural gas industry just got a shot of muck in the eye...

 

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Is Marcellus Shale too hot to handle? State officials unsure of how to handle radioactive wastewater created by drilling process

link to complete article is here: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=863369

By ABRAHM LUSTGARTEN, ProPublica First published: Monday, November 9, 2009

As New York gears up for gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, state officials have made a potentially troubling discovery about the wastewater created by the process: It's radioactive. And they have yet to say how they'll deal with it...

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A drilling chant: Slow, baby, slow

First published: Friday, November 6, 2009

The rush to drill for natural gas in New York seems to be slowing a bit. We're encouraged -- guardedly so -- by the Department of Environmental Conservation's decision to give the public an extra month to weigh in on the state's proposed new gas drilling rules.

That's a good start. We urge DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis to keep that schedule flexible.

The extension of the public comment period to Dec. 31 was probably a lot harder for the DEC than it might seem. State agencies are big battleships when it comes to making mid-course corrections, even on the easiest of issues. In this case, the issue is the more than 800-page set of rules written by the DEC itself. The agency could easily have taken a defensive posture and said it was sticking to its timetable. It could have said this has been studied and talked to death -- which it has not.

This one-month extension, then, is no small deal. It acknowledges deep and widespread concerns about the plan to extract natural gas from the vast Marcellus Shale formation that covers six states. In New York, it lies under the Southern Tier and the Catskills, including the watershed that supplies New York City with water that is so pristine it doesn't have to be filtered. That, as they might say in Brooklyn, is somethin' you don't mess with.

The industry maintains that its method of extracting the gas, hydraulic fracturing, is safe, but environmental and other groups have voiced concerns about the potential for damage, especially to drinking water. The process involves forcing millions of gallons of water mixed with various chemicals into the deep rock to crack it and break open pockets of natural gas. Critics say accidents could contaminate both underground and surface water, risks the industry says are negligible. It asks New York to shrug off incidents in other states as rare.

Whether the protections the DEC proposes are as good as the agency says remain to be seen. Pennsylvania thought it had done an exhaustive job when it pulled together a list of 31 chemicals used in the drilling process. Now, we find in New York's documents, a much higher number: 260. It's understandable that the public might be developing some trust issues when it comes to the assurances of the industry and its regulators.

We credit the DEC for learning far more already that any other state, or the federal government for that matter, about this undertaking. There may be many more questions, however, as the public looks even closer. New York City is awaiting a consultant's report on the potential threats drilling poses to its water supply, a document that isn't expected to be done by the DEC's deadline. Mr. Grannis should give the city the time it needs.

As we've said before, the gas isn't going anywhere. There is no reason New York can't take the time to get this right. And quite a few million reasons not to get it wrong.

The issue:

The state slows down the review of new gas drilling rules.

The stakes:

New York can't deliberate enough when it comes to water quality.

To comment: [email protected]

By Steve McConnell

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News from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

For more information contact: Yancey Roy, 518-402-8000

DEC Extends Public Comment Period for Marcellus Shale Draft SGEIS

ALBANY, NY (11/04/2009)(readMedia)-- The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation today announced it has extended the public comment period on the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) governing potential natural gas drilling activities in the Marcellus Shale formation from Nov. 30 to Dec. 31.....

 

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