DEC explains gas drilling regulations

Town officials want real information, not reassurances

By TOM KANE

LIBERTY, NY — It was supposed to be a closed meeting with state officials and town officials only, to talk about gas drilling regulations, but when people heard about it, they crowded into the meeting room.

Everybody has gas drilling on their minds lately.

The meeting was hosted by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and held at the Cornell Cooperative Extension on July 1. Bradley J. Field, director of the Bureau of Resource Management and Development, was on hand to answer questions.

What came across more than any other concern was that the town officials want the DEC to help them deal with the many issues that drilling raises.

“I’m concerned with the open ponds at the drilling sites,” said Callicoon supervisor Linda Babicz. “We’re in a flood zone and it would make more sense to have steel collection ponds.”

Babicz was referring to the on-site storage of the fluids used in drilling—each well requires about two million gallons of water, which is mixed with sand and a “recipe” of toxic materials and collected in a pond. This pool of water must then be removed and taken to a treatment plant.

“This open pond presents a real danger to our town,” she said.

The other problem Babicz had, which was shared by a number of other officials, was the damage to town roads that will be caused by the large heavy trucks traveling to the drilling sites.

“We can make the companies pay for a bond but the maximum amount is too small,” she said. “It’s expensive to fix roads decently and the rest of the cost will come from our budgets. That’s not right.”

Roads were also a concern for Highlands supervisor Tina Palacek, who went after the issue from the standpoint of safety. “We want to know what access roads the companies will use to get to the drilling site,” she said. “When school opens in the fall, we want to know if the trucks will be a danger to school buses. We are asking the DEC to let us know what companies are going to drill and when they will get their permits.

“The companies won’t talk to us,” she said. “The DEC should make them talk to us.”

Field said that he would take these remarks to all the drilling companies but did not assure the officials that they could require the companies to do so.

“There has got to be a policy for handling these drillings that helps town officials,” said Larry Richardson, deputy supervisor for the Town of Cochecton.

“Public interest should not outweigh private interests,” one resident said. “Even though the industry may be a boon for the local economy, the concerns of citizens should be addressed.”

When questioned further about drilling fluids and the fact that they were exempt from the public’s right to know through the Federal Energy Policy Act of 2005, Field said that the DEC was in the process of getting this information from the companies.

“The exemptions of the energy policy act do not hold here,” Field said. “The state can make laws in this area.”

Field claimed that New York State has not experienced serious problems as a result of gas drilling over the years. Since 1963, his agency has monitored 75,000 gas wells with few problems.

That claim was disputed by Bruce Ferguson, a member of the Catskill Citizens group, who had been actively investigating the gas industry. The deep horizontal drilling technology, developed by Haliburton, is new and has not been used in New York State up to this point.

“Naturally, there are going to be some few instances of problems, but overall, we have a good record,” Field said.

Another issue was how the towns were going to deal with the laying of pipelines that may run through the towns. “That is not within our jurisdiction,” Field said. “That is a matter handled by the Public Service Commission (PSC).”

“Why not hold more meetings for the people in the evening and bring the PSC with you?” an official asked.

Field said the DEC would try to do that.