Environmental study ordered

NY counties, towns, groups may provide input

By FRITZ MAYER

NEW YORK STATE — On the gas front, there’s good news for drilling supporters and environmentalists.

On July 23, New York Governor David Patterson signed a law that “streamlined” the process for gas companies to acquire drilling permits. At the same time, he ordered the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to study the impacts of deep horizontal drilling and the large volumes of fracking fluids used in the gas extraction techniques for recovering gas from the Marcellus Shale plate that stretches from West Virginia to the Southern Tier of New York.

Gas drilling permits in the state have historically been issued under a Generic Environmental Impact Survey (GEIS) that was completed in 1992. But drilling that will be done in the Marcellus Shale is significantly different from what has gone before; so much so that the governor ordered the DEC to update the existing GEIS to specifically cover the drilling that will soon likely take place in the Catskills and the Upper Delaware. It will also examine the cumulative impacts of multiple wells clustered in one area.

For Dr. William Pammer, the commissioner of planning and environmental management for Sullivan County, the Supplemental GEIS process opens a door for local officials to have input into the regulations under which drillers will operate.

In an interview at the government center, Pammer said, “It is extremely important for the towns and the county, and towns in other counties too, to request through the DEC, commissioner’s office, that they be involved agencies, that is, to provide input.”

Over the past several years, Pammer has worked with many towns developing new comprehensive and agricultural development plans. In New York, the laws that cover drilling give towns very little control over the drilling process, so, for the purposes of siting gas wells, the plans the towns have developed are fairly meaningless. Town officials, for instance, are powerless to stop a well from being drilled in the middle of a residential zone, as has happened in other states. Pammer hopes that in being involved in the Supplemental GEIS process, local officials can ensure that impacts to communities are minimized.

On the day of the interview, thunderstorms caused minor flooding in Callicoon, Rockland and elsewhere. Pammer noted that if fracking fluids were being held in open pits at the time, some pits could easily have been overtopped. Pammer sees the Supplemental GEIS as a way for local officials to press for, among other things, regulations that would require that the fluids be held in closed containers.

There appears to be growing awareness in Albany that local officials are dissatisfied with the lack of home rule authority they have in gas drilling matters. In the press release regarding the new drilling law and the Supplemental GEIS, the governor’s office wrote, “Because drilling activity impacts local governments as well, DEC will also be looking at ways to enhance the role of local governments in the regulatory process and compliance.”

Local officials had predicted that drilling might begin shortly after the Millennium Pipeline is completed in November, but the Supplemental GEIS process will likely delay drilling for several months.

On July 25, DEC commissioner Pete Grannis issued a press release that said that while the Supplemental GEIS process is ongoing, “…any entity that applies for a drilling permit for horizontal drilling in the Marcellus Shale and opts to proceed with its permit application will be required to undertake an individual, site-specific environmental review. That review must take into account the same issues being considered in the Supplemental GEIS process and must be consistent with the requirements of State Environmental Quality Review Act and the state Environmental Conservation Law.

Therefore, it would seem most cost effective for gas drilling companies to await the outcome of the Supplemental GEIS.

The release also said that the DEC hopes to have a draft scoping document, which will define the scope of the Supplemental GEIS, by the end of the summer. After that, “DEC will hold a series of public hearings across the Southern Tier and the Catskills, anticipated to begin in September. DEC is committed to an open, transparent process and welcomes the participation of local government officials, industry representatives, advocacy groups and the general public,” Grannis said.

Following the public hearings and comment period, the DEC will release a final scoping document and prepare the Supplemental GEIS. While dependent upon the final scope, DEC will seek to have a draft Supplemental GEIS ready for public review by early spring, 2009.

The process may be complete by late spring.