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Steuben County, NY May Accept Marcellus Drill Cuttings in County Landfill

Like neighboring Chemung County, NY, officials in Steuben County, NY are actively considering accepting Marcellus drill cuttings (leftover dirt and rock from drilling gas wells) in the county landfill. Drillers over the border in Pennsylvania are looking for a location to dump the cuttings. The debate over whether to accept drill cuttings always centers on whether there is radioactivity in the cuttings and if it will become a problem down the road when liquids leach from the landfill into groundwater supplies. Chemung County has done extensive research and finds the radioactivity levels to be very low—and safe. Chemung County currently accepts drill cuttings, and now Steuben County is considering it too.

“Right now, we’re just talking about relatively small amounts we would bring in, if we brought it in. We want to be sure of ourselves though,” said Steuben County public works commissioner Vince Spagnoletti.*

As with Chemung County, economics is driving the decision for Steuben County as well:

Spagnoletti says bringing in around 10,000 tons per year of the drill cuttings could raise around $300,000 to the operational budget of the landfill.*

That’s a potential $300,000 that taxpayers would not have to pony up.

*YNN Your News Now (May 11) – Steuben County may allow Marcellus shale debris to be dumped in landfill

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Chesapeake Withdraws Application to Store Millions of Gallons of Wastewater near Keuka Lake

Syracuse Post-Standard (Feb 21)
Plan to truck hydrofracking wastewater to Finger Lakes shelved, for now

Readers of Marcellus Drilling News know that we advocate for landowners, and that we support safe drilling. But, drilling companies sometimes do themselves no favors and deservedly receive suspicion and condemnation. Case in point: Chesapeake Energy, one of the largest drillers in the U.S., is looking for a place to store millions of gallons of wastewater from their drilling operations in Pennsylvania. They thought they may have found a spot in the Steuben County (New York) town of Pulteney, in an old gas well no longer in use. They wanted to store up to 663 million gallons of wastewater—called “flowback” in the drilling business—in the old gas well, and they filed an application to do so.

Flowback, which is water combined with sand and unspecified chemicals, is what’s leftover after it’s been pumped into the ground and brought back out again. The problem is, the chemicals used by drilling companies are a closely guarded trade secret—something that gives them an edge over competitors when drilling. So no one knows what, exactly, is in the flowback, nor in what proportions. This makes people uneasy when you want to store millions of gallons of it close to homes with water wells, and close to their vineyards. The old gas well sits next door to an active vineyard.

It’s also bone-headed of Chesapeake to want to store it in this particular abandoned gas well, as the location is just one mile away from Keuka Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York. The proposed underground storage by Chesapeake “would not be lined or contained.” If, by some unfortunate event, the stored flowback were to leak into Keuka Lake, the resulting contamination could be catastrophic. It appears to be a risk just not worth taking. Much better for Chesapeake to look for a facility that will treat the flowback and return it to them to be reused for more drilling.

Chesapeake has withdrawn its application for now. Although not a popular subject with drillers, if drilling companies were to disclose the chemicals used in the drilling process, it would go a long way to silencing the critics that there is no safe way to drill.

The article from the Syracuse Post-Standard is fair and balanced (more or less) with a video interview of a local landowner who lives across from the abandoned gas well. It’s worth your time to read the article and watch the video interview.

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Susquehanna River Basin Commission Monitors Waterways for Contamination

WETM-18 TV (Feb 15)
Gas Drilling Prompts More Water Quality Monitoring

Due to concerns over drilling in the Marcellus and discharge of wastewater from drilling operations into area waterways that ultimately find their way to Susquehanna River, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission has placed monitoring devices in the Twin Tiers area of New York (Binghamton and Elmira). So far 10 monitoring devices have been installed, with another 20 to be installed by June.

Marcellus Drilling News applauds the efforts of the SRBC to ensure local waterways remain contamination-free from drilling activities. Everyone wins when there is vigilance and monitoring.

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First NY DEC Meeting on Proposed Drilling Regulations Held in Sullivan County

Middletown Times Herald-Record (Oct 29):
300 folks pack Sullivan fracking forum

The first scheduled meeting for public comments on the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) held by the New York DEC happened yesterday in Sullivan County, NY. According to the Middletown Times Herald-Record:

Most of the speakers in the standing-room-only, mostly anti-drilling crowd of more than 300 at Sullivan County Community College said the proposed Department of Environmental Conservation rules for drilling of the Marcellus shale fall short.

The anti-drilling standard tactic is to delay drilling in hopes of building support to get it banned altogether. This was evidenced at the meeting. With regard to extending the DEC’s public comment period (which would further delay the start of drilling):

Paul Rush, deputy commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, called for 45 extra days.

Joe DiPane of Callicoon called for six months, since the shale “has been formed underground for eons,” he said.

There are two more scheduled meetings, Nov. 10 in New York City and Nov. 12 in the Binghamton area. A third meeting is yet to be arranged in the Elmira area. (See Public Hearings on the New York Draft SGEIS for Marcellus Shale Drilling for details.) Landowners need to attend and make their voices heard!

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Public Hearings on the New York Draft SGEIS for Marcellus Shale Drilling

New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (Oct 13):
Press Release: DEC Schedules Public Hearings on Marcellus Shale Drilling Draft SGEIS

Landowners will want to attend the public hearings being held by the New York DEC on the draft regulations for drilling in the Marcellus Shale. The regulations are called the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS). Why attend? To educate yourself on the regulations, and (if you’re so inclined), to offer your comments of support. You can be sure the anti-drillers will be out and vocal–so you need to be out and vocal too if you’re interested in ever seeing drilling commence in New York State. Here are the dates for hearings so far:

  • Wednesday, Oct. 28, Sullivan County Community College, E Building, Seelig Theater, 112 College Rd., Loch Sheldrake, NY 12759.
  • Tuesday, Nov. 10, Stuyvesant High School, High School Auditorium, 345 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10282.
  • Thursday, Nov. 12, Chenango Valley High School, High School Auditorium, 221 Chenango Bridge Rd., Chenango Bridge, NY 13901.
  • Elmira – Corning, TBD.

The doors will open at 6 p.m. for individual questions and speaker sign up (first come, first called for commenting on the record). The public comment session will start at 7 p.m. Check the DEC web site for possible changes in time or location.

From the press release:

DEC staff will be available prior to the start of each session to answer individual questions about the format and contents of the draft SGEIS. The following procedures will guide the public hearings:

  • To accommodate as many people as possible, there will be a five-minute limit on oral presentations.
  • Speakers may supplement their oral presentations with written comments. Written and oral comments receive equal consideration.
  • Formal presentations (PowerPoint, etc.) cannot be accommodated.
  • Individuals intending to speak will be required to sign-in upon arrival and will be called in the order registered.

To view (or download) the 809-page draft SGEIS, go to this page: www.dec.ny.gov/energy/58440.html

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Pro-drilling Editorial from Corning Leader

Corning Leader (Oct 7):
Gas drilling an important opportunity

Well, what do you know? A positive editorial from a news outlet (for a change). This one from the Corning Leader says in part:

[S]ometime next spring or summer we’ll see the beginning of what could be a drilling bonanza in the Southern Tier. Hundreds of wells have already been tapped in Pennsylvania and the same level of activity could happen here.

Potentially, that could generate billions in new revenue for a sustained period of time. Gas companies, support companies, engineering firms and so on are expected to follow others that have already located in the Southern Tier to tap into the northern tip of the Marcellus Shale. Those companies will create jobs, pay taxes and have a beneficial ripple effect through other sectors that could revive one of the poorest areas of the country.

Thank you for talking about the positive side of drilling!

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Steuben County League of Women Voters Go on Record as Anti-Drilling in the Marcellus

It seems anti-drilling groups, although small in numbers, are popping up like dandelions in the spring. The latest is the Steuben County League of Women Voters, a supposedly non-partisan group (but that’s a lie, LWV is an extremely partisan group). WENY-TV has video from a recent meeting held by the League. The meeting started with a propaganda movie about drilling in Colorado to whip up the crowd.

Read the account and watch the WENY segment: Steuben County League of Women Voters Holds Natural Gas Drilling Meeting