Millions of gallons of water use approved

New York City Council meets on impact to city’s drinking water

By TOM KANE and FRITZ MAYER

fritzmayer@riverreporter.com

HARRISBURG, PA — The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) has granted approval for the withdrawal of more than 30 million gallons of water a day from the river basin in response to 40 applications from drilling companies seeking to drill for natural gas in the area. Six applications were tabled. The move increases the amount of water that drillers can take from the watershed to 41 million gallons per day.

This amount does not include what is called “approval by rule,” or withdrawals that occur when a drilling company gets its water from a public water source. The commission met on September 11.

“Our technology staff, which is very strict about these things, feels that that number of gallons a day could be drawn from the streams, ponds and the Susquehanna River with no threat to water resources,” said Susan Obleski, SRBC spokesperson.

There are a number of power plants in the river basin that withdraw from nine to 40 million gallons a day without causing a problem, she said.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, one million gallons could be held in a tank about 267 feet long (almost as long as a football field), 50 feet wide and 10 feet deep.

The SRBC also settled fines with several companies that had violated water withdrawal limits. Among them, Cabot Oil and Gas agreed to pay $375,000, Chief Oil and Gas will pay $475,000, EOG Resources will pay $450,000 and Range Resources will pay $475,000.

New York City Council weighs in

In other gas drilling news, the New York City Council held an emergency public hearing on September 10 to address concerns that plans for natural gas drilling in the city’s upstate watersheds could contaminate local drinking water.

Council member James Gennaro, who organized the hearing, said that drilling also threatens to cost taxpayers billions of dollars if the city loses a waiver from the federal government that exempts it from filtering its drinking water. The city’s water supply is allowed to go unfiltered as long as periodic federal testing finds it to be clean. According to Gennaro, if the water supply were to be contaminated as a result of the drilling and the exemptions taken away, the city would be forced to pay billions of dollars to construct and maintain a new filtration plant.

“This is an industrial activity that is completely inconsistent with a drinking water supply,” Gennaro said. Drilling in the watershed has become something of a campaign issue in the state senate race between Gennaro and incumbent senator Frank Padavan. Padavan has said he will reintroduce legislation in next year’s session that would prevent drilling in the watershed that serves New York City.

At the hearing, several environmental groups, including Delaware Riverkeeper, the Natural Resource Defense Fund, Catskill Mountainkeeper and the Sierra Club ,warned about the possible dangers of gas drilling.

Not everyone agreed. The American Petroleum Institute and the Independent Petroleum Association of America issued a statement that read, “The associations believe that development of natural gas resources in the Marcellus Shale will not pose any significant risk to the drinking water supplies of New York City.”