DRBC Hearing in Deposit, NY Today – JLCNY Encourages Gas Drilling Supporters to Attend

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drbc_logoThe Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will hold a hearing today in Deposit, NY to consider an application from XTO Energy to withdraw up to .25 million gallons of water per day from the Oquaga Creek in the Town of Sanford, NY. The water withdrawals are to support XTO’s drilling activities—both exploration and production—in Broome and Delaware Counties (NY). Bear in mind drilling has not yet begun in New York, and further, the DRBC has not yet released drilling guidelines for the area they oversee which includes parts of the Marcellus Shale region in both New York and Pennsylvania.

If the DRBC approves the water withdrawal, that is a good first step for those who support drilling, and (perhaps) a signal that the DRBC will allow drilling to commence soon in Pennsylvania in those areas it controls. (The DRBC has not allowed any drilling in the Marcellus areas under its jurisdiction in PA.)

For more details about today’s DRBC hearing in Deposit, visit this web page: //www.state.nj.us/drbc/XTOEnergy.htm. MDN has embedded the hearing docket below that contains the particulars of XTO’s application to the DRBC.

The following email notification about today’s meeting was received by MDN last evening from the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY).

Dear Natural Gas Supporters Everywhere,

Please circulate this to any and all pro-gas supporters as soon as you receive this.

We have one day left until the DRBC Water Withdrawal hearing in Deposit on June 1.

Please do not, under any circumstances, think that this does not relate to you simply because it is not in your town or county. Now is the time to stand together with all pro-gas supporters in Deposit!

As this event goes, so shall all of NY go! We all have to come together now to show our united support for seeing all of NY’s natural gas developed throughout NY. Anyone who decides to sit back and wait for this to come to their town before actively showing their support while letting the folks in Deposit fight this all alone will help the anti-gas forces to divide and conquer us. We cannot fight this as one small pro-gas area against all of the the anti-gas crowd.

Please be in Deposit on June 1. The anti-gas folks have read our emails and now plan to be in Deposit around noon. Please be in Deposit before then and plan to wait in line to secure your chance to offer testimony and prevent the anti-gas protesters from dominating the hearing. If you do not want to speak please be there to show your support just the same.

For those who do wish to speak please remember that the JLCNY’s main point to express is that the decision should be based on science, not popularity, without further delays. Also there are lots of great notes and key points posted by Tom Shepstone, a very strong and vocal supporter of natural gas development from Honesdale PA posting on EID Marcellus. He is helping out, will you?

Also, since this is shaping up to be a long day there will be a hospitality hall in the Masonic Temple on Front St. with food and refreshments made available at no charge to you. If you can support this effort we’ll try our best to make it easy for you!

So please be there early and bring a carload of fellow supporters.

Please show you care.

Please be there.

Sincerely,
Dan Fitzsimmons, President
Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, Inc.

P.S. Here is the hearing information again for your reference…

To encourage the DRBC to make their decision based on the science instead of emotion, without further delay, please take a moment right now to send an email to the DRBC Commissioners. Just click here…

//jlcny.org/site/index.php?option=com_letters&view=letter&id=25:xto-energy-water-permit-should-be-decided-on-science-now&catid=29:email-campaigns

It is just that simple! But it must be sent before (or on) June 1st, 2011 to be considered, so do it now please.

The public hearing will take place June 1 at the Deposit High School Auditorium, 171 Second Street, Deposit, N.Y. from 4:45 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. An informational meeting, which will open with a brief overview presentation on the draft docket by commission staff to be followed with an informal question and answer period, will be held at 3:45 p.m. for the hour preceding the hearing.

Registration for those who wish to testify at the hearing will begin at 3:30 p.m. when the doors open. There will be no inside access to the school building prior to 3:30 p.m. Seating and registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Please try to be there as early as possible.

2 Comments

  1. MDN: “The DRBC has not allowed any drilling in the Marcellus areas under its jurisdiction in PA.”

    I’m pretty sure this is not exactly correct.  A number of shale gas developers held PA DEP drilling permits for locations in the Delaware basin prior to the DRBC’s asserting it held jurisdiction over yet another layer of regulatory control.

    Those permits were grand-fathered in, and some wells were drilled, but they were test wells — not the Full Monty.

  2. Right you are Andy–thanks for pointing that out. I should have clarified “full production wells” as there were some exploratory wells drilled that have not gone into full production.