More than 100 area residents crowded into the Unitarian Church earlier this month to learn more about the new gas drilling rules proposed by the New York Department of Environ-mental Conservation (DEC). Tompkins County Council of Governments hosted the public information session.    

Before discussing the 809-page draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) David Kay explained how the document was created. Kay, a senior extension associate with the Cornell Community and Rural Development Institute (CaRDI), walked the audience through the steps of the state regulatory review that resulted in the document.    

The SEQR process (State Environmental Quality Review Act) includes public hearings and comments before the final document is released.

The point of the regulatory process, Kay says, is to balance social, economic and environmental factors in the decision-making. Elements required in any Environmental Impact Statement include: a description of the environmental setting; identification of potential significant adverse environmental effects; a list of mitigation measures; and identification of reasonable alternatives.    

“Cumulative and long-term impacts are discretionary,” Kay says, noting they may or may not be included in the EIS. He suggests that citizens submitting comments on the draft SGEIS focus on substantive comments, those supported with data and evidence, rather than emotional comments.

What is the SGEIS?    

County Commissioner of Planning Ed Marx discussed measures DEC proposes for horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the shales. If gas wells were regulated like other industrial activities their placement would be more carefully considered, he says. Instead, they’ll be scattered across the landscape.    

“Overall the mitigation measures proposed appear to be useful,” Marx says. But he qualifies that with the caveat, “If they are followed.” As written, the proposed drilling rules include language “suggesting” actions that Marx feels should be “required.” He offers the rules for cementing gas well surface casing as an example.    

DEC will require notification prior to cementing so that inspectors may witness the process, Marx says. But DEC does not require an inspector to be present during that step. Cementing the casing is not trivial. It is, in fact, the practice both industry and DEC claim protects of the aquifer supplying drinking water to area residents.    

DEC will require baseline testing for all drinking water wells within 1,000 feet of the gas well; or up to 2,000 feet if there are none closer. There will be additional tests after drilling and if problems are reported. Copies of test results will go to the county health departments, but there are no provisions in the SGEIS for staffing or funding.    

DEC will also require that transport of waste fluids from the well be documented with manifests.

But, Marx says, the document is just as notable for what it doesn’t address. The SGEIS does not address the cumulative impacts from habitat fragmentation, he says. As for air quality control, the SGEIS “suggests” barriers to limit public access within 500 feet of a well pad to limit exposure to emissions.

“But they only suggest this,” Marx says, noting that the annual emissions from one well in its first year of drilling and production would be equal to twice the total of emissions for the entire county. Thus, the county’s effort to reduce greenhouse gases could be undone by one well.

One thing Marx stresses is that the DEC refers many times to local land-use policy documents. Sections on visual impacts, noise reduction and road use all suggest the drilling companies consider plans already in place in the local municipalities. 

Another concern Marx raises is the reliance on industry information and self-policing. There is no clear indication that DEC will be onsite to regulate the gas industry, he says, noting their plans for implementation, enforcement and monitoring are vague.

What’s ignored?

“If I were teenager I would love to have DEC as my parent,” says environmental attorney Helen Slottje, “because it suggests and encourages but doesn’t make you do anything, and there’s not even a ‘time out’ for bad operators.”

Water testing sounds good, but DEC won’t require tests for methane, Slottje said. “If there’s noise, their solution is distance. They acknowledge that there will be air pollution problems related to frack fluid impoundments but offer no solutions. And the inspections for stormwater pollution protection plans will be left to the local governments,” she says.

When asked about potential soil contamination, Slottje notes that DEC admits that there will be some contamination even without accidents, but they have decided that it is not relevant.

“What has New York City done that we can do here?” one person asked, referring to the recent statement by Chesapeake that they would not drill in the New York City watershed. Another person asked how radioactivity in the well waste and flowback would be monitored.

One man, a truck driver by trade, admitted that the 1,200 truckloads of water for each well is a lot. “That’s a month of deliveries,” he said. “But if we’re going to continue to burn fossil fuels, is it possible to say ‘no, don’t drill here’? If so, whose oil are we going to burn?”

Public Hearing in Ithaca

Danby town supervisor Rich Dietrich, who moderated the session, noted that comments on the SGEIS may be submitted on Wednesday, Thurs. 19, at 7 p.m. in the State Theatre. The Council of Governments will record all comments and submit them to DEC. Residents may also submit comments online or by e-mail to DEC (http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/58440.html). Public comments will be accepted through Dec. 31. In addition to downloading the draft SGEIS from the DEC, copies are available at the Town of Ithaca offices, Caroline Town Hall, Brookton’s Market in Brooktondale and the city clerk’s office at Ithaca 

TAGGED WITH: DEC, gas drilling, hydro-fracking, Ithaca, SGEIS