New York horizontal drilling and fracking COULD BE BANNED - Stories from the NY DEC Hearings

In case you were not aware, all marcellus shale gas drilling in New York State has been on hold for over a year now. This came about because the City of New York decided that hydro-fracking anywhere in NY state would poison THEIR watershed (it started out as the watershed and is now the entire state).

All kinds of extreme "environmental" groups in NY city got together and held campaigns in every borough over the past year to "raise awareness" (in other words, spread bad information and turn everyone against) natural gas drilling in NY state.

The NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) took a long time to investigate and prepare an environmental report about drilling, which is known as the SGEIS. This report came out and then the DEC scheduled public hearings in various places around NY state to get public comment about the report, and to see what people thought about natural gas drilling.

I attended and spoke at the November 10th hearing in NYC at Stuyvesant High School. I was one of only 6 or 7 people speaking FOR drilling in an audience of over a thousand. The rest of the auditorium was packed with the most extreme crazies I have ever seen. Read a few news stories about the event and you will get the picture.

I then attended the November 12th DEC hearing in Chenango Bridge NY and stayed long enough to hear multiple speakers. I was not able to devote the time to speak at that hearing but several other NY landowners and friends of mine did speak.

The (supposed) final DEC hearing for NY took place in Corning the other night. It was a disaster for NY landowners who support safe drilling. The NIMBY and enviro-crazies have made fracking into a potential disaster and gotten the regular people so afraid of it that there may be no turning back.

This is a very important - in fact the MOST important - subject for anyone who wants to see drilling in NY state. IF NYC and the CRAZIES GET THEIR WAY DRILLING COULD BE BANNED IN NY.

I certainly hope I am wrong and the NY DEC can get the draft through so drilling can happen. BUT, things are not looking good right now. Go to the news section of Google and put in "NY DEC hearing" and read about the insane activities going on to prevent NY landowners from leasing and drilling.

If there is interest I can give specifics about what happened during the meetings, and I may do that just so people realize how bad the situation is right now.

Views: 261

Comment

You need to be a member of GoMarcellusShale.com to add comments!

Join GoMarcellusShale.com

Comment by Greg Sovas on December 18, 2009 at 2:13am
You may want to read my view on the "Outlook for Marcellus Development in Pennsylvania and New York – December 2009" at our Twin Tiers Landowners Coalition website (see www.twintlc.com, go to Viewpoint, 5.). NY will move ahead and allow drilling and development in late spring or early summer. I'm very confident.
Comment by Martin Donovan on December 6, 2009 at 12:57pm
I have been following this. I consider myself an environmentalist, and most of these people are misinformed alarmist. There are no answers only tradeoffs. Natural gas extraction is not 100% environmentally friendly, no human activity is. For anyone who thinks the possible and avoidable environmental hazards of natural gas drilling are too risky, they should reasearch the definate environmental consiquences of how coal is mined in the Applachian Basin.
Comment by b bz on December 4, 2009 at 6:30pm
Too bad a major legislator who controls funding for DEC does not have interest in land, nor in increasing the tax base for the state.
Its amazing that NY will not let its property owners excersize their own property rights and extract the minerals that are owned below the surface of your land.
You own it, its yours , not theirs.
rboyle@boyleoil.com
Comment by Bruce Wayne Allen on December 2, 2009 at 6:02am
Hydraulic- Fracturing has been used in the industry for years with not much publicity. And has been used exclusively in the Barnett, and Haynesville Shale Gas Play with little resistance from the public. Just a new process for enhancing production, which takes place way below drinking water aquafer. Please go to API web site www.api.org, and follow link. To good graphic Video explaning where, how, and procedure used in the Hydraulic-Fracturing process. To make an informed decision on to Frac or not to Frac. That is the question.
Comment by Tom Copley on November 25, 2009 at 2:08pm
rfs-- It would be a great idea to make certain DEC is hearing from all sides of the political spectrum on this. I'm out here on the left coast, and we have our own home-grown crazies to worry about, but I'll betcha there are many thoughtful people even in NYC who do care about where their energy comes from, and aren't the least bit opposed to nat gas drilling in the state, so long as it is done safely and with absolutely no threat to their watershed. The boundless nature of the protests against drilling and fracing should tell you that this is about far more than merely a few wells with methane in them or dead minnows (the infamous Dimock "fish kill"). --Tom
Comment by Robin Fehrenbach Scala on November 25, 2009 at 1:48pm
Tom, for some reason (and I cannot fathom why) the NYC crowd cares nothing about American energy independence. I would think they should care very much since they are a target.
One of our landowner speakers, who is very good at communicating, spoke about that subject several times at three hearings. Maybe the audience just cared about nothing but their NIMBY-ism, but they seem to believe it does not matter where the energy comes from as long as it is NOT New York State.
Comment by Tom Copley on November 25, 2009 at 1:19pm
Ringo and Buck-- I hear you, but it's not about hush payments or good 'ol boy influence, it's about American Energy Independence. --Tom
Comment by Ringo Star on November 25, 2009 at 9:49am
I think Buck is correct. Also, knowing that media like to tell the story of the underdog, it may be helpful for a few landowners to get in front of the cameras informing people that they are being blocked from exploiting their investment (Mineral Leases).
Comment by Tom Copley on November 24, 2009 at 8:31am
Backroom payoffs are never the way to go and merely perpetuate any problem by rewarding the scummiest parts of the political spectrum. They are ultimately self-defeating as in making them you reward disfunctional political behavior that returns again later in other guise seeking more of the same. A good firefighter knows the best way to turn a brush fire is to light a backfire! --Tom
Comment by Robin Fehrenbach Scala on November 24, 2009 at 6:52am
How true, Tom. I am in a group of several thousand landowners who communicate regularly, and we feel that the press and TV stations have been some of the problem. They love DISASTER, but don't care for stories they perceive as boring.
We are currently trying to get some press from the landowner's perspective so we can get the story out in the best light. After all, landowners are MOST concerned about their environment! For some reason the enviro-crazies never consider that at all.
While I was speaking at the NYC hearing, the NIMBY crowd tried to twist things I said. This happened to the other landowners I was with (all 5 of us). We were actually able to get through to some of them in the end, but the large majority don't really care about "their cause", they just want to stop all progress.

Uncle Buck, what you say does not surprise me. I was hoping the companies would be working on this in the backroom, but frankly we could have used a little help at the hearings. As long as NY eventually gets to drill in an environmentally sound way, I will be happy. There are too many landowners just getting by who need a few bucks just to keep their land. This would help them sleep at night.

© 2024   Created by Keith Mauck (Site Publisher).   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service