Sullivan County prepares gas drilling scoping points

Which issues will be studied?

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — The meetings currently being held across the state are critical in determining the future of deep well gas exploration in that portion of the Marcellus Shale located in New York State.

At a meeting at the government center on November 13, county attorney Sam Yasgur explained to lawmakers why testimony at the meetings, which will determine the issues to be examined as the state comes up with new procedures regarding Marcellus gas extraction, is more important than testimony at other public meetings. At the scoping meetings, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) must consider all recommendations of issues for review brought forward. The DEC must respond in writing as to how all the issues will be addressed. If the DEC decides it will not review a specific issue, it must explain in writing why it will not do so.

Therefore, said Yasgur, well-reasoned and well-written comments about which issues should be studied can have an important impact on the DEC process going forward.

The scoping meetings are being held before the DEC starts the actual process of creating a supplemental generic environmental impact statement (SGEIS) regarding Marcellus drilling. The local scoping meeting will be held at Sullivan County Community College on December 4, beginning at 4:30 p.m.

At the county government meeting, planning commissioner William Pammer talked to lawmakers about the list of issues determined to be important by the county’s natural gas task force. The issues included a wide array of local environmental impacts.

Lawmakers then offered some of their own opinions of what should be included. Several said that local municipalities should be given more authority to control gas wells permitting. Lawmaker Leni Binder sad that the DEC should recognize the “home rule” aspects of the state, and if they don’t, the matter might be taken to court.

The task force, which included county manager David Fanslau and Yasgur, did recommend that all drilling applicants be required to include impact statements from affected municipalities in their application documents, and that other measures regarding local input be included in the SGEIS. Pammer said, however, that the task force determined that the scoping meetings were not the appropriate forum for pushing the home rule argument.

Lawmakers were asked to come up with any additions to the issues list by November 20, when there will be another county meeting on the matter.

It is likely that at the next county meeting, Pammer will be designated to speak at the scoping meeting on behalf of the county. Yasgur, however, advised that even though Pammer will be doing the talking, all members of the legislature should show up for the meeting. He said, of DEC officials who will be at the meeting, “they should see our faces.”

Task force issue recommendations

• Assess not only impacts of wells but also impacts of associated pipelines, transmission lines compressor stations and accidental spills or emissions.

• Evaluate sound environmental practices of storage and transportation of fracking fluids, if such is to take place in 100 or 500 year flood plains.

• Assess cumulative impacts of truck traffic on road and bridge infrastructure.

• Assess a mechanism for notification to municipalities by the DEC upon receipt of a permit application.

• Assess a mechanism for requiring a drilling company to notify a municipality of a permit approval and coordinating with municipality on local permitting.

• Evaluate a mechanism requiring all applicants to include, as part of their application documents, statements from each affected municipality regarding potential impacts and suggested ways to address those impacts.

• Assess impacts on aquifers and individual wells.

• Assess the social and economic impacts both during and after drilling operations.

• Assess impacts on municipal services due to activities ancillary to drilling operations.