Environmentalists Threaten Shale Suit

By Rachel Ward

Manhattan, NY – A lawsuit could be in the cards if the state doesn't drastically change its approach to natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale. That's according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Monday.

New York has issued a draft of rules for gas drilling, but those procedures have been criticized by environmentalists, who want them thrown out entirely, and redrafted.

NRDC attorney Kate Sinding says the draft rules don't look at the cumulative effect of gas drilling - and that the final version needs big changes.

"If [the final ruling] looks anything remotely like the draft, a lawsuit will ensue. And there will be a bunch of folks out there trying to compel the governor to do what we've asked him to do voluntarily, through the court system. Depending on how that lawsuit is treated by the courts, that could result in a further stay of the regulatory process."

The deadline for public comment on the draft rules expired last week. If the governor doesn't heed calls to throw out the current draft, the state Department of Environmental Conservation will next respond to the comments, and then issue the final rules. After the final rules are issued, gas firms will be able to apply for permits to begin drilling.

Last week, the federal Environmental Protection Agency weighed in with comments about how drilling could affect water supplies. Other groups cite safety and rural quality of life issues as potential problems with drilling.

Business groups have come out in favor of the draft drilling rules, arguing that developing natural gas will lift up an economically depressed part of New York State and bolster domestic fuel supplies.

Drilling for natural gas in shale is controversial because it uses a relatively new combination of techniques. "Hydrofracturing" is coupled with horizontal, rather than vertical, drilling. The method shoots water, sand and chemicals into formations deep in the earth, and forces gas out of tiny fractures in the shale.

Gas firms argue that the methodology is safe and uses common chemicals and lubricants to extract the gas. But environmentalists have linked natural gas leaks, and radiological and chemical contamination of groundwater to the process.