The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) has released its draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (“SGEIS”) for natural gas drilling activities in the Marcellus Shale formation. The draft SGEIS supplements the existing 1992 Generic Environmental Impact Statement (“GEIS”) and analyzes the range of potential significant adverse environmental impacts of shale gas development using horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing known as “hydrofracking”. The draft SGEIS outlines safety measures, protection standards, and mitigation strategies that operators would have to follow to obtain permits.
The City of New York has a particular interest in the SGEIS because the Marcellus Shale formation underlies a significant part of the Catskill watershed which provides much of the City’s drinking water supply. Erosion, runoff, and possible contamination of groundwater with toxic chemicals are just three of the potential dangers highlighted in a report prepared for the City by environmental consultants Hazen and Sawyer/Leggette, Brashears and Graham. This report, available here in PDF, found that in addition to construction-related surface water impacts, the presence of a wellbore can “allow previously isolated contaminants to flow into shallow groundwater or surface water.” The SGEIS would allow drilling within a few hundred feet of reservoirs, with some mitigation safety measures in place. This would include the need for a site-specific State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQRA”) review in certain instances. Use of hydrofracking in locations outside of New York is thought to have contributed to groundwater contamination, with further investigations underway.
DEC is accepting public comments on the SGEIS from now until November 30, 2009. Mayor Bloomberg hasn’t yet given the City’s comments, nor the City’s overall position on the State’s plan, but has said he’ll do everything in his power to keep reservoirs safe.
