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Click here to read NYPIRG's statement on the Revised Draft Gas Drilling Guidelines
The recent interest in natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, and other low-permeability gas reservoirs such as the Utica Shale formation, is a cause for concern.
What is Marcellus Shale?
The vast Marcellus Shale is a sedimentary rock formation that extends from Tennessee, through most of West Virginia, across Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, and into the Southern Tier of New York. Geologists have known about the natural gas deposits in the Marcellus Shale for some time.1
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Why are drillers looking at the Marcellus Shale region now?
The natural gas in the shale was once considered too difficult to extract, but it is now possible due to advancements in natural gas extraction methods.
Source: www.propublica.org/special/hydraulic-fracturing-national
What is Horizontal High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing (“Hydrofracking”)?
A natural gas extraction process by which water, usually mixed with highly toxic chemicals, is forced down a drilled well at extremely high pressure to create or expand fractures, releasing gas trapped in rock formations. First the drill goes down vertically to the desired depth in the formation then the drill rods are turned horizontally.2
Is this new extraction method safe?
There are many environmental impacts associated with hydraulic fracturing, or “hydrofracking.” This extraction method requiring deeper, more complex drilling and substantially more water than conventional drilling can come at a steep environmental price.
Among the environmental impacts are:
Water
“Natural gas extraction can have a significant impact on local water resources.”3 Each gas well can require from two to nine million gallons of water per “frack.”4
Wastewater
The millions of gallons of wastewater that flow back out of the well requires off-site treatment; it can include toxic chemicals, hydrocarbons and metals, and may be radioactive.5>
Chemicals & Sand
The chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes, pose environmental and human health risks.6 “Trying to [clean up] benzene, salts, heavy metals or polymers once they have been released into the soil or water, is difficult, expensive and often unsuccessful.”7
Noise
Heavy truck traffic, drilling and fracking are all extremely loud and invasive for people living nearby. Extraction-related activities typically go on around the clock, seven days a week.8
Air pollution
Air pollution at drilling sites comes from the diesel exhaust of heavy truck traffic and from the extraction activities.9 Volatile organic compounds evaporate easily from the chemicals used in drilling and fracking, as well as from the extracted gas.10
What is happening in New York State?
The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation's recently revised draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (rdSGEIS) fails to adequately evaluate the potential impacts from fracking. (This is the plan for how hydrofracking can take place in the state.) However, like the first draft it falls short and does not provide a comprehensive view of the environmental impacts of this drilling method. For example, the rdSGEIS must:
- analyze the potential public health impacts
- classify the drilling wastewater, now radioactive and laden with toxic chemicals, as hazardous waste
- not allow permits to be issued before regualtions are completed
- address cumulative impacts
- fully protect water supplies
- ban dangerous chemicals
During DEC's recent public comment period for rdSGEIS, NYPIRG alerted tens of thousands of New Yorkers about the hearings close to their homes and our supporters submitted thousands of comments opposing fracking in New York.
You can help right now! We need to keep the pressure on Governor Cuomo — please take a minute right now to tell him DEC's plan is flawed.
1 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Marcellus Shale, Gas well drilling in the Marcellus Shale, <http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/46288.html> (28 April 2011).
2 NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Marcellus Shale, Gas well drilling in the Marcellus Shale (last visited Nov. 11, 2010), http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/46288.html#horizontal.Union of Concerned Scientists, How Natural Gas Works, Revised 31 August 2010, <http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/technology_and_impacts/energy_technologies/how-natural-gas-works.html> (28 April 2011).
3Susquehanna River Basin Commission, Gas Well Drilling and Development Marcellus Shale, Page 19, 12 July 2008, <http://www.srbc.net/whatsnew/docs/Marcellusshale61208ppt.PDF>
4 Ibid, Union of Concerned Scientists, (28 April 2011).
5 U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, Energy & Commerce Committee Investigates Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing, 18 February 2010,<http://democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?q=news/energy-commerce-committee-investigates-potential-impacts-of-hydraulic-fracturing> (28 April 2011).
6 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Department of Mineral Resources. DRAFT Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement On The Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Regulatory Program: Well Permit Issuance for Horizontal Drilling And High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing to Develop the Marcellus Shale and Other Low-Permeability Gas Reservoirs. 9/30/2009. Page 5-62.
7 Testimony of Bruce Baizel, Senior Staff Attorney, Oil & Gas Accountability Project, Earthworks before New York City Council Committee on Environmental Protection, 10 September 2008.
8 Penn State Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, The Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, Resources FAQ, <http://www.marcellus.psu.edu/resources/faq.php> (28 April 2011).
9 Earthworks, Colorado Air Pollution from Oil and Gas, <http://www.earthworksaction.org/Coloairpollution.cfm> (28 April 2011).
10 Brown, Valerie, J. “Putting the Heat on Gas,” Environmental Health Perspectives, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 2007 February, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1817691/> (28 April 2011).