An out-of-state energy firm is looking to buy Cooperstown's water and use it for natural-gas exploration in the town of Maryland.
The village of Cooperstown Water Board is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Monday to discuss selling 99,000 gallons of water per day to Covalent Energy of Arlington, Va.
The water, roughly 8.25 percent of Cooperstown's water-plant capacity, would come from Otsego Lake, the village's reservoir, and be trucked to Maryland to help Covalent extract natural gas from the Ross farm at 316 Shutter Road.
``We hope to get our permits in place in the next few weeks,'' Covalent's president, Jonathan Kelafant, said Monday.
After the firm has secured its state DEC permit for drilling and approval from Cooperstown and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to buy the water, it will be ready to explore for natural gas, he said.
Water, often used with sand and sometimes mixed with chemicals, is pumped into gas wells under high pressure to fracture rock and release gas.
Covalent already has drilled two promising wells in Otsego County, one in Springfield and the other in Cherry Valley. In the coming months, the company will drill other wells in the northern part of the county, Kelafant said.
Only when the firm has several wells in an area can it justify constructing a branch pipeline that would link them to a main gas line, he said. At that point, local wells will be put into production, generating gas and royalties.
Kelafant said his firm is opting to buy water from Cooperstown for its Maryland operation because the Susquehanna River Basin Commission prefers that it use water from a municipal source rather than other sources.
Paula Ballaron, the commission's Regulatory Program director, said that because municipalities already have permits to consume water, sales from them are likely to adhere to guidelines for the water supply and be approved.
In recent months, the commission has been inundated by requests from drillers for water, as drillers search the Marcellus and Utica shales that underlie the area.
``It's been like the gold rush,'' she said.
Brian Clancy, Cooperstown director of public works, said Cooperstown already sells water to customers.
``Nothing on this scale, but we do it for pool owners all the time,'' he said.
The 99,000 gallons a day would not compromise the village's ability to provide water to residents, Clancy said. The water plant can handle about 1.2 million gallons of water a day, and the village uses between 650,000 and 700,000, he said.
A 99,000-gallon purchase would cost about $728 daily, he said.
News of Covalent's request for water from the Glimmerglass raced about the Internet after it was outlined in a legal notice in The Daily Star last week.
One of those messengers, Adrian Kuzminski of Fly Creek, a member of Sustainable Otsego, said the request ``underscores the need for a county-wide moratorium on gas drilling.
``We've got to stop the stampede, make sure our residents and officials have all the facts, not just the lure of easy money,'' he said. ``We need to know how `compulsory integration' works, which chemicals they can pump into the ground, and how closely these operations are going to be monitored.''
Town of Maryland Supervisor Marjorie French said Monday that she had not been told of Covalent's plans to drill in the town or to truck in water from Cooperstown.
``I've been trying to find out,'' she said.
Donald Lindberg, a Worcester resident who represents Maryland on the Otsego County Board of Representatives, said he also was unaware of the pending drilling operation.
``Haven't heard about it,'' he said.
He said he is wary of a county-wide moratorium.
``We don't want to make it too hard to get our energy from around here,'' he said, adding that he wanted to know more about what the drilling entails.
According to the Otsego County Real Property Tax Office, the 96-acre property at 316 Shutter Road in Maryland is owned by Ronald Ross, who could not be reached for comment Monday. It is situated near the Schenevus exit on Interstate 88.
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