Published: September 10, 2008 10:56 am      

Drilling not imminent in NYC watershed

The state's top environmental official says New York City's watershed isn't immediately threatened by natural gas exploration because no drilling applications have been filed.

Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis planned to speak today at a hearing in Manhattan to air public concerns about the safety of drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region, which includes parts of the Catskill Mountains surrounding the city's reservoirs.

In remarks prepared for the hearing, Grannis says the state hasn't received any applications for drilling near the city's watershed. He noted that the state is fully examining the potential environmental effects of any drilling.

The commissioner pointed out that DEC is undertaking a full examination of potential environmental impacts of horizontal drilling, including the use of large volumes of water, and encouraged the Council members and other interested parties to participate.

He said the state has not received any applications for drilling anywhere near the city's watershed in the Catskills, and that if any permit applications were received, a full assessment of potential environmental impacts specific to the city's watershed would be required.

The "emergency" hearing was called in response to reports speculating that a "filtration avoidance determination" _ the legal instrument issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that allows the city to use unfiltered drinking water _ was at risk because of potential natural gas drilling in the city's watershed west of the Hudson River.

The Marcellus Shale formation, which runs from West Virginia to New York's Southern Tier and Catskills region, has received a great deal of recent attention because of the potential extent of the natural gas reserves, the efforts of energy companies to sign leases with upstate landowners, and the large amounts of water required for the hydraulic fracturing process used to release the gas.

In his testimony, Grannis pointed out that there are more than 13,000 active oil and gas wells in the state. However, given the large amounts of water that will be required for horizontal drilling in the Marcellus Shale, Grannis said DEC will be examining issues ranging from water withdrawal and consumption, to the composition of the "frac fluids," to the safe storage, transportation and legal disposal of waste water from the operations.

Gov. David A. Paterson directed DEC to address these impacts, and toward that end, this fall DEC will be holding public hearings

across the state in the potentially impacted areas, and then preparing a comprehensive supplement to the generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) that governs oil and gas drilling in the state.

The DEC has created a web page (http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/46288.html#Information) to provide information regarding the potential Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling.