Sullivan County saves Beaverkill Campground

Full article can be found at the following address: http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090702/COMM/907020331

From left, the DEC’s William Janeway, Catskill Mountainkeeper’s Ramsay Adams, Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther and Sullivan County Legislator Elwin Wood celebrate Beaverkill Campground’s re-opening.Times Herald-Record/STEVE SACCO

By Stephen Sacco

Times Herald-Record

Posted: July 02, 2009 – 2:00 AM

ROSCOE — The Beaverkill Campground, which usually opens in mid-May, has been open only since June 26 but it almost didn’t open at all this year, says William Janeway, regional director with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

With New York State’s budget woes, the 52-site campground, which the DEC operates at a loss, was cut from the state budget.

It was only the efforts of the Sullivan County Legislature that allowed it to open, says Janeway. Legislators voted to put aside about $20,000 in this year’s budget for the camp to remain open.

On Wednesday County Legislator Elwin Wood, Janeway, Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther and Catskill Mountainkeeper representative Ramsay Adams gathered to celebrate the camp’s re-opening.

News of the closing had created a hubbub. The Catskill Mountainkeeper, a nonprofit environmental group, began circulating a petition on the Internet to keep the camp open. And there was a joint meeting of the chambers of commerce for Roscoe and Livingston Manor to address the economic losses small business would suffer without the campers. That got the county’s attention.

“The county said (to DEC), ‘What can we do to make this work?’ And that has made all the difference,” Janeway said.

It has made all the difference to Jim and Jane Burrell, who have been married for 44 years and coming to Beaverkill for 42 years of those years. Making the five-and-half-hour drive from Aurora to the Beaverkill has become a tradition, Jane said.

They said it was a small crisis when they received news that their reservations were cancelled. They had to tell their grandchildren they wouldn’t be going, and then watched them burst into tears.

But their reservations were restored and Jim and Jane were there Wednesday. Their grandchildren will arrive this weekend. The campground is booked to capacity.

ssacco@th-record.com

New rules on gas drilling?

Full article can be found at this address: http://www.sc-democrat.com/news/006June/16/news3.htm

By Dan Hust
MONTICELLO — Gas drilling issues dominated Thursday’s Planning Committee meeting of the County Legislature.
Planning Commissioner Bill Pammer asked and got legislators to approve a resolution recommending the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) prohibit extracting gas in 100-year and 500-year floodplains.
“This recommendation is made for the purpose of protecting life and property within these areas and… safeguarding the health of the river basin and of the communities who use it from adverse environmental effects on water resources resulting from this activity,” read the resolution.
“We’re talking about a very, very small land area,” Pammer said – mostly around the Delaware River and its major tributaries.
He passed around a list of some of the affected towns. Delaware and Callicoon had the least amount of floodplain areas (two percent), while Lumberland had the most (8.6 percent).
Another resolution, again approved unanimously by committee members, requested the State Legislature to authorize local governments to demand financial security and indemnification pertaining to road damage from trucks hauling materials to and from drill sites.
Though the state already gives local governments latitude in determining such payments, they have been challenged in court.
Plus, this resolution asks the state to clarify that such requirements do not constitute “impact” fees, leaving room for municipalities to charge that separately (as is the case with the proposed Indian casinos).
And, of course, the county sent another resolution to the state asking it to give local governments the same oversight they normally have with any other kind of development within their borders. Currently, municipalities only have control over local roads and taxes.
However, Pammer may have found a way for the county to at least get a glimpse of the site plan – through the requirement that each wellpad have a 911 address for emergency response procedures.
Driveways on county roads require permits from the county, and while the county can’t demand alterations to the site plan, it can require the plan’s submission to gain the permit.
Legislator Leni Binder said she’d favor such a requirement as long as it didn’t present “an undue burden of expense” on the applicant, which Pammer promised it would not.
In fact, Division of Public Works Commissioner Bob Meyer said it would only be a “step above” the sketch already required for a permit.
Pammer said he’d research the issue more before presenting it to legislators for a vote.
Also being researched is the development of a local law to prohibit seismic testing on county roads.
“Thumper trucks,” as they are known, have visited the county before, searching for solid and liquid minerals underneath the ground by sending sound vibrations through the soil and rock.
The concern of the county, however, isn’t so much the noise but the extraction of data from below private property, as the seismic tests measure information gathered from an area larger than just underneath the truck itself.
Legislator Ron Hiatt was the only one hesitant to endorse such a law, but Pammer said he’d do more investigating before bringing it back to the Legislature – including getting townships to sign on to such an initiative to ensure town roads are treated in the same manner as county routes.

Bills Would Require Disclosure of “Fracking” Chemicals

Full article can be found at this address: http://www.ombwatch.org/node/10120

Bills recently introduced in both the House and Senate seek to force natural gas drilling companies to disclose what chemicals are pumped into the ground in a practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” Although the process has been linked to drinking water contamination and other harms to public health and the environment, companies are currently allowed to conceal the toxic chemicals they use.

Hydraulic fracturing is a process where sand and fluids are pumped underground at very high pressure to cause tiny fissures in rock and force natural gas to the surface. Although most of the fluid is water, numerous chemicals, many of them toxic, are typically added to the mixture. Fracking fluid is known to often contain benzene, toluene, and pesticides, among other harmful substances.

Currently, the industry enjoys an exemption from regulation under a federal drinking water statute that permits them to maintain secrecy around the chemicals used. Gas drillers and the companies that supply them are attempting to fend off Congress’ efforts to close the loophole and to preserve the confidentiality of the chemicals used, claiming the mixtures are trade secrets. Without the information about the chemicals, scientists are unable to research the potential health effects of hydraulic fracturing.

The legislation, known as the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act, or FRAC Act, specifies that drillers must disclose the identities of the chemicals used in the fracturing fluids. In medical emergencies, even trade secrets must be disclosed, with or without a written statement of need. The Senate version of the bill is sponsored by Pennsylvania Sen. Robert Casey, Jr. (D) and New York’s Charles Schumer (D).

According to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), whose Energy and Commerce Committee is moving the House bill (H.R. 2766), “The current exemption for the oil and gas industry means that we can’t even get the information necessary to evaluate the health threats from these practices.”

The bills remove the oil and gas industry’s exemption from regulation under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), which was granted in a previous, Republican-controlled Congress. The SDWA authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate the injection of fluids underground and limits pollution levels in drinking water. The exemption, known as the “Halliburton loophole” for the company that pioneered the process and the influence of its former CEO, Dick Cheney, was inserted into the Energy Policy Act of 2005. No other industry enjoys such a blanket exemption from SDWA regulation. Without the authority of the SDWA, EPA scientists are powerless to analyze the chemicals, processes, and dangers of hydraulic fracturing.

Chemicals used in fracking enter the environment through three main ways. Up to one-third of the fracking fluid is left underground during the process, and this can seep into underground drinking water supplies and the source waters for rivers and lakes. Spills and accidents on the surface can also contaminate water supplies. Finally, the two-thirds of the fluid that is retrieved after being injected underground is waste water that must be disposed, presenting another potential avenue for release into the environment.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), one of the House bill’s cosponsors, said, “It’s time to fix an unfortunate chapter in the Bush administration’s energy policy and close the ‘Halliburton loophole’ that has enabled energy companies to pump enormous amounts of toxins, such as benzene and toluene, into the ground that then jeopardize the quality of our drinking water.” Hinchey added, “The bill also lifts the veil of secrecy currently shrouding this industry practice.”

Another House cosponsor, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), announced, “When it comes to protecting the public’s health, it’s not unreasonable to require these companies to disclose the chemicals they are using in our communities – especially near our water sources.”

In DeGette’s home state, Colorado, gas drilling has greatly expanded over the last eight years, and nine Colorado municipalities have already passed resolutions similar to the proposed federal legislation. New state rules in Colorado require gas drillers to give the inventory of chemicals to medical personnel when requested, as well as to state officials. The general public remains barred from access to the information, however.

The federal bills do not require reporting of quantities of fracking fluids used, the amounts of the toxic chemicals used or disposed of, or where the chemicals end up. However, with knowledge of the chemicals themselves and the authority to regulate the process, EPA scientists would be able to track the fate of the fracking fluids and analyze impacts to the environment.

In cases of medical emergencies caused by exposure to fracking chemicals, the legislation gives companies that were forced to disclose proprietary chemical formulas the right to require a confidentiality agreement from the treating nurse or doctor after the emergency. However, it is not clear if the patient must sign a confidentiality agreement, or if the physician is barred from telling the patient what chemicals they have been exposed to. The legislation’s focus on medical emergencies fails to consider or address chronic exposure to fracking chemicals, which could create non-emergency medical situations where disclosure of the chemicals is important.

The industry contends that oil and gas production would drop considerably – threatening the economy and the country’s goal of energy independence – if the legislation becomes law. This argument is made despite industry assertions that the value of the natural gas in just one geologic formation in the northeast would be worth up to one trillion dollars. Opponents of federal regulation also claim that state regulators provide sufficient oversight of fracking operations.

( 06/16/09)

DeGette plans to introduce ‘fracking’ bill this week to protect drinking water from gas drilling

This article was originally published in the Colorado Independent and can be found at the following address: http://catskillpost.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

By David O. Williams 6/8/09 8:54 AM

(Photo/Malia_Mia, Flickr)

Officials for the natural gas industry are quick to point out that a process called hydraulic fracturing has been in use for more than 60 years without a single documented case of groundwater contamination by the chemicals used to make gas flow more freely from wells.But U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette is just as quick to respond that it’s hard to document contamination when no one outside of the industry knows exactly what kinds of chemicals are being injected along with high-pressure water into wells to force open rock formations thousands of feet below the surface.

On a recent conference call with reporters to discuss a hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” — bill she plans to introduce this week, DeGette, a Democrat from Denver, said most of the evidence of well-water contamination or groundwater spills is anecdotal because state and local officials don’t know what chemicals are being used.

DeGette cited the case of an emergency room nurse in Grand Junction who suffered organ failure last year after treating a natural gas worker who was coated with fracking fluids.

“She believes and many other people believe that her injuries came from chemicals that were included in the fracking fluid, but the problem is that since the companies don’t have to disclose the chemicals that are in that fracking fluid, it’s difficult to make a correlation,” DeGette said.

In a statement, DeGette and U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat from New York, a co-sponsor of the pending legislation, point to “troubling incidents around the country” in which people living near drilling operations have fallen ill. The lawmakers say chemicals known to be used in the process include “diesel fuel, benzene, industrial solvents and other carcinogens and endocrine disrupters.”

Industry officials argue the process is already regulated by state agencies and that the types of chemicals being used are trade secrets that can give them a production edge over competitors. They say the exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act granted during the Bush administration in 2005 is needed to protect desperately needed domestic energy-sector jobs.

“[Fracking’s] got an exemplary safety record and it’s vital to ensuring an American energy source,” said Kathleen Sgamma, director of government affairs for the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States (IPAMS). “Keep in mind that it has been regulated by the states for the last 60 years.”

Sgamma said fracking uses 99.5 percent water and sand, with the remaining percentage comprised of chemicals such as food additives, food-worthy thickeners, chlorine, bacteriasides and emulsions to thicken the mixture.

But the word of the industry isn’t good enough for Hinchey, whose district in New York’s Catskill Mountains has been the focus of stepped-up drilling activity in recent years. He said he’s heard from property owners around the country who have experienced water problems resulting from natural gas drilling.

“What we’re trying to do is restore a safe, solid, secure piece of legislation passed back in 1974 [the Safe Drinking Water Act], which had a positive effect and should be put back in place for the obvious reasons — to protect the security and safety of people across the country, to make sure their wells aren’t contaminated,” Hinchey said.

Just across the border in northeastern Pennsylvania, Carolyn Wells, who lives part time near the town of Dimock, said natural gas drilling in the mostly rural area is destroying her formerly peaceful escape from her primary residence in New York City.

“People started leasing their land like crazy during the past two years, without reading the fine print or doing any research on what it means. All they see is dollar signs that they think they will get,” Wells said, counting at least 20 neighbors whose drinking water wells are contaminated with fracking fluids. “I can’t believe people will sacrifice clean air and water for money. Doesn’t do too much good if your environment is toxic or you get cancer.”

But in Colorado, a spokeswoman for Williams, an energy company with one of the better environmental reputations on the Western Slope, discounts the notion that drinking water is being fouled by fracking fluids anywhere in the country.

“Hydraulic fracturing is really misunderstood and it’s really been misrepresented,” said Susan Alvillar, community affairs representative for Williams. “It’s such a necessary part of our business, but unless you’ve got processed water in a truck that spills into a drinking water source or a stream, hydraulic fracturing 8,000 feet underneath the ground is not going to commingle those fluids and gas with drinking water.”

In Colorado, Alvillar said, the state is more than capable of monitoring and regulating the process. IPAM’s Sgamma, who admitted there are occasional incidents, agreed: “Accidents happen, and companies are liable if they make a mistake, and they pay fines or rectify the situation.”

But DeGette made the case that the quality of water flowing from Colorado’s Western Slope impacts states like Utah, Wyoming, Arizona and New Mexico, making federal oversight even more important. And she pointed out that not all states have the tougher new drilling regulations Colorado recently adopted.

“I must say I’m very proud of my home state of Colorado for passing these new stringent regulations, but all the states have not passed regulations that are the same,” DeGette said. “And the reason we passed the Safe Drinking Water Act in the first place is that we decided that safe drinking water is a national priority and that the standards should apply to everybody.”

DeGette called the jobs argument a scare campaign because her bill won’t add undue industry expense and contains provisions to allow for proprietary confidentiality when it comes to detailing the types and percentages of fracking fluids being used.

“I’ve been hearing hyperbole like this is going to put millions of people out of jobs and so on,” DeGette said. “I don’t know if the oil and gas companies don’t understand the bill or if they’re intentionally misrepresenting the bill, so I think there is an educational campaign to be made to members of Congress on both sides of the aisle.”

Williams’s Alvillar, though, said Colorado’s new, environmentally tougher drilling regulations are in part to blame for the recent decline in drilling activity on the Western Slope, and another layer of federal regulation certainly won’t help the industry.

“I do know, from reading other media accounts, that it is impacting our contract workforce,” Alvillar said of the regulations. “We don’t have as much work for them to do. People, for instance, like Halliburton, who are running our well service, I know it’s impacted their workforce.”

The war of words over water is nothing new for Colorado.

Other industry watchers attribute the downturn in natural gas drilling on the Western Slope on the larger effects of the global economic crisis that caused oil and gas commodity prices to drop substantially.

Hinchey pushes for disclosure of chemicals used in natural gas ‘fracking’

Hinchey pushes for disclosure of chemicals used in natural gas ‘fracking’

click here for complete article: http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2009/June09/05/fracking_Hinchey-05Jun09.html

WASHINGTON – With interest in drilling for natural gas deposits in Marcellus shale formations in Sullivan and Delaware counties and elsewhere in the Catskills and Southern Tier, New York Rep. Maurice Hinchey Thursday said he would introduce legislature calling for disclosure of the chemicals used in the process.

Hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’, is a process of injecting at high pressure chemicals into underground rock formations in order to release natural gas to be captured.

Hinchey and Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette are pushing for disclosure of those chemicals, which they said could include diesel fuel, benzene, industrial solvents and other carcinogens and endocrine disruptors.

DeGette said she supports natural gas drilling, but with safeguards. “I don’t think we should be developing those resources at the potential risk to the public, especially to the risk of their drinking water,” she said. “That’s why I think it’s important that we balance the need for energy development with the need for sensible environmental laws.”

Hinchey, too, wants safeguards in place when drilling and fracking. “To make sure that their wells are not contaminated; to make sure that their water reservoirs are not contaminated and that water continues to be safe and secure.”

Both lawmakers testified before a hearing of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources Thursday.

Campaign to Keep Beaverkill Campground Open Successful

Catskill Mountainkeeper Press Release The New York State Department of Conservation has announced its partnership with Sullivan County to keep the Beaverkill Campground open for the 2009 season Youngsville, NY - April 24, 2009 - Catskill Mountainkeeper applauds the NYS DEC’s decision to partner with Sullivan County to keep the Beaverkill Campground open during these tough budgetary times. We would like to thank Commissioner Pete Grannis and Region Three Director Willie Janeway for their efforts on this important issue.  Catskill Mountainkeeper organized a campaign to help keep the Beaverkill Campground open including an online petition that received more than 600 signatures in partnership with Friends of the Beaverkill, Roscoe Chamber of Commerce, Livingston Manor Chamber of Commerce and the Sullivan County Visitors Association. “This is how government should work” said Ramsay Adams, Executive Director of Catskill Mountainkeeper.  “Community leaders organized a campaign; the County and State heard the call and worked hard to find a solution.” Catskill Mountainkeeper would also like to thank Senator John Bonacic, Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, Legislators Elwin Wood and Jonathan Rouis along with the rest of the County Legislators and Sullivan County Manager David Fanslau. About Catskill Mountainkeeper Catskill Mountainkeeper is a member based advocacy organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the long term health of the six counties of the Catskill Region.  As a representative face of the Catskills, we strive to be the eyes, ears and voice that look at issues, listen to concerns and speak on behalf of people who live, work, and recreate here.  Recognizing strength in numbers, we organize concerned citizens to protect existing jobs and industry, take care of abundant but exceedingly vulnerable natural resources, and help to utilize available and often unclaimed local, state, and national funds to prevent and cushion the impact of natural disasters. Catskill Mountainkeeper Ramsay Adams Executive Director Catskill Mountainkeeper Wes Gillingham Program Director

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(April 15, 2009) Mountainkeeper featured in Earth Island Journal story

Will There Be Blood? The Battle Over New York’s Marcellus Shale

“One thing that’s happened,” says Wes Gillingham, Program Director of Catskill Mountain Keeper, “is that this whole issue has awakened people to the complexity of hydro fracking and the whole issue of regulatory oversight and whether it’s adequate or not. And to the basic question of whether it can be done safely at all.” Read the entire story by Adam Federman, Contributing Writer, Earth Island Journal here

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Community Leaders Unite to Save the Beaverkill Campground

SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION TO KEEP THE CAMPGROUND OPEN
VIEW SIGNATURES HERE

327 people have signed the petition as of Thursday, March 12
PLEASE ADD YOUR NAME TODAY

On Saturday March 7, 2009 Catskill Mountainkeeper along with the Sullivan County Visitors Association, the Roscoe Chamber of Commerce, the Livingston Manor Chamber of Commerce and the Friends of Beaverkill co-hosted an informational meeting to urge the state not to close the Beaverkill Campground in Sullivan County. The DEC announced that the campground will be one of six in the state that will be shuttered because of the fiscal crisis.  However, available financial data indicate that closing the campground will only save the state a few thousand dollars while dramatically impacting the tourism economies of Roscoe and Livingston Manor.

UPDATE: Sullivan County makes offer to state to run Beaverkill here
Read the Mid-Hudson New Article about the event here

Fly-Fishing: Why wait? Some trout streams are open now

Daily Gazette article
Thursday, March 12, 2009
http://www.dailygazette.com
Morgan Lyle
http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/mar/12/312_FlyFishing/
Fly-Fishing: Why wait? Some trout streams are open now

Opening Day of trout season isn’t what it used to be, at least not for me.

It used to be that April 1 was the day pent-up trout anglers would charge to the water and stay there all day, whether the fishing was good or lousy. If it was a weekday, they took a vacation day if they could, or a sick day if they had to. I remember when I was younger, driving up Route 28 in the Catskills near Ashokan Reservoir at 1 a.m. and seeing pickup trucks in the pull-offs. As of one minute after midnight, it was trout season.

The pull-offs will probably be occupied before dawn again this year, and lots of people will go fishing on their local waters. Kayaderosseras Creek in Saratoga County will get plenty of visitors.

But that’s the thing: The Kayaderosseras is open all winter. You don’t have to wait until April 1. You can fish it March 31 or Feb. 5 or any other day you want. It might be frozen from bank to bank, but if there happens to be open water, you are legally free to fish it.

When I first got into fishing 20 some years ago, there weren’t any year-round streams near me in the mid-Hudson Valley, or at least none I was aware of. My world was smaller then, and it didn’t occur to me to travel down to the Croton River watershed in Putnam County or over the mountains to the year-round parts of the Beaverkill and Willowemoc or up to the Kayaderosseras or the West Canada Creek or the Battenkill River or any of the other streams with year-round sections. I just waited impatiently for April 1, went fishing when it finally arrived and grumbled about how lousy the fishing was.

These days, I fish for trout all winter, and April 1 is just another chilly day with slow fishing. But while it’s no longer the day when I can finally go fishing, it still has plenty of emotional significance. It’s the symbolic beginning of another trout season, and it announces the really wonderful fishing that will be happening in a few more weeks. Yes, you can fish all winter, but nymphing for sluggish trout in February can’t hold a candle to casting dry flies to rising trout during the Green Drake hatch in June. Some things you still must wait for, no matter what the regul­ations booklet says.

If I can’t get out on April 1, I’ll fish somewhere as close to that date as I can, in tribute to the opening of the season. I’ll probably fish nymphs, most likely a dark brown Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear, size 14, or maybe a Prince, size 12, or maybe both. There’ll be split shot involved, and a lot more flicking and lobbing than casting, but I’m confident I’ll pick up a fish or two.

And I suppose if it’s after April Fool’s day, I’ll fish someplace that’s not open all year, just for the sake of doing something I couldn’t do all winter.

It’s good to be able to get some fresh air on a nice winter’s day and fool around at your local trout stream for a few hours, but there’s probably a philosophical truth hidden in the ritual of waiting all winter to fish.

I once had a friend who lived about three driveways down from one of the bridges where Route 313 crosses the Battenkill in Vermont. “Man, if I lived here, I would fish every single day,” I told him, green with envy.

He gave me this smile that I suspect he gave his kids and said, “Would you want it to be Christmas every day?”

The correct reply would have been, “If I could fish on Christmas, yes,” but I didn’t think of it in time.

NYDEC Draft Scope Natural Gas Drilling (PDF) Download, October 5, 2008

draftscope1

(Download the PDF from the link above)

Draft Scope for 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

Draft Scope (PDF, 404 KB)

The Department is accepting written comments on this draft scope through the close of business on December 15, 2008. A schedule of public meetings in the Southern Tier and Catskills to receive verbal comments will be announced shortly.

Submit comments to: Attn: Scope Comments, Bureau of Oil & Gas Regulation, NYSDEC Division of Mineral Resources, 625 Broadway – Third Floor, Albany, NY 12233-6500

or email to: dmnog@gw.dec.state.ny.us with “Scope Comments” as the Subject

Executive Summary

The Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for regulating the development and production of oil and gas resources in New York State. Natural gas exploration and production companies, and mineral rights owners, are interested in developing a potentially significant gas resource in the Marcellus Shale through the use of horizontal drilling and a hydraulic fracturing technique known as “slick water fracturing.” This technique requires large volumes of water. The Department has identified the action of well permit issuance when high-volume hydraulic fracturing is proposed as one which requires further review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (”SEQRA”). This draft scope and the public meetings where it will be discussed are the first steps in that process.

The Department evaluated its oil and gas regulatory program through development of a Generic Environmental Impact Statement (”GEIS”) which was finalized in 1992 and which sets parameters that are applicable statewide for SEQRA review of gas well permitting. This draft scope describes the topics related to well permit issuance for high-volume hydraulic fracturing that the Department has identified for review in a draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (”dSGEIS”). Written and verbal comments from all interested parties will be considered in the preparation of a Final Scope, and then the dSGEIS will be released for additional public review and comment. The final SGEIS, to be prepared after consideration of comments received on the draft, will set additional parameters for SEQRA review. The Department will then issue well permits for gas well development using high-volume hydraulic fracturing in accordance with both the GEIS and the SGEIS.

Aspects of high-volume hydraulic fracturing identified in this draft scope for further review include the potential impacts of (1) water withdrawals, (2) transportation of water to the site, (3) the use of additives in the water to enhance the hydraulic fracturing process, (4) space and facilities required at the well site to ensure proper handling of water and additives, and (5) removal of spent fracturing fluid from the well site and its ultimate disposition. Noise, visual and air quality considerations are noted, along with the potential for cumulative and community impacts. The well permitting process is described, and regulatory coordination with other jurisdictional agencies and local governments are also discussed.

Narrative background and context is included in this document solely for the purpose of assisting the reader in evaluating the draft scope, is based upon the Department’s experience implementing the GEIS and regulating oil and gas drilling in New York State, and is for reference only. Nothing contained in this draft scope is intended, nor should it be construed, as stating a position with respect to any matters that will ultimately be addressed in the SGEIS. In order to avoid duplication, and to ensure that the SGEIS serves to complement the GEIS, interested persons are urged to carefully review the GEIS in connection with the preparation of any comments. Note that the GEIS also includes a glossary of technical terms.