Informational Summit to be Held on Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Project

By Peter Iglinski

Owego, NY – An informational summit is being held in the Southern Tier Monday afternoon on a major drilling project being considered for parts of the state.

The project involves the Marcellus Shale, which contains trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. The formation stretches from West Virginia to New York, and includes the Southern Tier and Catskills.

The process requires deep horizontal wells and the pumping of water, sand and chemicals under a great deal of pressure to fracture the shale.

Roger Downs of the Sierra Club is concerned about the large amount of water needed--which would come to about a million gallons per well. Downs says the state's wastewater infrastructure can not handle such large volumes of water.

Supporters of Marcellus Shale drilling say it would result in thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity.

Mara Ginsberg is legislative counsel for the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York. She says the water used at the drilling sites can be handled properly. She also says that New York is a highly-regulated state-- meaning that the drilling would be done safely.

The state Department of Environmental Conversation is currently reviewing changes in the environmental review process. Those changes would allow energy companies to address some of the drilling issues in one step rather than doing so for every well site. That could reduce the site application process from 400-plus days to 40.

The companies would still need to submit a drilling plan for each site.