Debate Continues Over Shale Plan

By Rachel Ward

Rochester, NY – The massive plan to issue drilling permits in New York's Marcellus Shale is about the size of a phone book. It's the Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) attempt to lay the ground rules for drilling, and to figure out what effect horizontal drilling techniques will have on the environment. And just as the document has ballooned, so has the conversation around drilling.

"All of the comments we have seen to date they're criticism of a document that's not complete yet."

Morgan Hook is a spokesman for Governor David Paterson. Paterson called for the drilling review back in 2008, and since the draft version of the document has gone public, it's generated more than 12,000 comments from engineers and environmentalists, drilling interests and citizens.

Now that the comment period is closed, the DEC is tasked with responding to the issues that the public raised.

"The critics of this on both sides of the issue - the people who say that we've been taking too long in this process, and the people who say we should wait longer - ultimately, all of those comments will be assessed by the DEC. Basically what we're saying at this point is let's allow them to do that and then let's look at it at the point once it's been finished."

But finishing the process is exactly what some critics don't want. Kate Sinding is with the Natural Resources Defense Council. She says the draft is built off of a 1992 document that didn't do a very good job at looking at how drilling would affect the environment - and that the DEC doesn't take its review of the potential impact of drilling far enough.

"They've failed to conduct any meaningful consideration of alternatives to the permitting program. For example, an alternative that would put part of the state off-limits to drilling, or an alternative that would slowly phase in permitting, rather than just allowing it to go forward full speed ahead. They haven't looked at that at all - that's legally required."

The Natural Resources Defense Council and a coalition of other environmental groups want the governor to toss out the current draft process. If he doesn't, and the shale drilling regulations in the final version aren't much different than those in the draft, they say they'll sue.

Oil and gas industry interests, however, think the review is plenty rigorous.

"Environmental protection and economic benefit to the state are not mutually exclusive."

Brad Gill is the executive director of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York State. That organization is supportive of the draft process that the DEC is conducting, because as soon as it's finalized, permits can be issued, so members can exploit the natural gas trapped in the shale.

"Our industry operates under some pretty critical time frames. When you take leases for example, the clock is running on those leases and it really inhibits the ability for companies who are wanting to come into New York and spend hundreds of millions of dollars on leasing to even want to do that in this kind of regulatory uncertainty. The end result of that really is a negative economic impact to the state."

State officials say they recognize that the gas in the shale has the potential to make New York energy independent, and to create jobs in drilling and the industries that support it. But they're making a concerted effort to not take sides in the debate. A spokesperson for the DEC declined to tape an interview for this story, saying that department is "committed to carrying out the process in an unbiased way."

Meanwhile, the governor's office says that environmentalists won't be getting what they've been demanding: for the draft document to be thrown out, and the process started over. A spokesman for Paterson says while the governor is committed to protecting New York's environment, he's going to let the DEC continue its process.

But industry interests also won't necessarily get what they want anytime soon. They're hoping to see permits start flowing by the summer. But a spokesman for the DEC told WXXI that there's no definitive timeline for responding to the comments on the draft and issuing the final guidelines.