That was the question on many minds in the Skaneateles High School auditorium on Tuesday night, Jan. 23. About 100 people attended the school environmental club’s presentation on hydraulic fracturing where they heard positions both for and against the controversial drilling process.
Hydraulic fracturing, or “hydrofracking,” is a method of drilling for natural gas that injects sand and liquid under high pressure down a well in order to release gas from fractures in rock.
In high-volume hydraulic fracturing, millions of gallons of water are used to release the gas from the rock. Sand and a relatively small amount of chemicals are used also. Chemicals usually make up 0.5 percent of the mixture, according to a fact sheet from the US Geological Survey.
For example, a fracturing job that uses three million gallons of fluid would include about 15,000 gallons of chemicals.
Some opponents to hydraulic fracturing are concerned that these chemicals, or naturally occurring chemicals in the ground, may be released into the aquifer. Proponents are more confident of the process and emphasize the positive economic impact gas drilling may have.
The presentation included a showing of the movie “Split Estate,” a film that is highly critical of hydraulic fracturing and includes accounts from the western United States. The testimonials present hydraulic fracturing as unsafe and dangerous to public health.
In an attempt to keep the presentation balanced, the environmental club projected a PowerPoint presentation along side the movie. It contained statements from the natural gas industry refuting some of the claims of “Split Estate.”
After the movie, there was a 15-minute presentation by David Palmerton, a geologist and environmental consultant. Palmerton concentrated on the upside of natural gas drilling.
Natural gas is superior in that it produces less carbon dioxide compared to wood, coal or electricity, Palmerton said, and development of natural gas resources will provide new jobs and tax revenue.
The Marcellus Shale formation, the rock that is being considered for drilling, covers a vast amount of acreage. It runs under parts of Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio.
“The industry has to do the work responsibly to get the gas out, but this is a world-class deal here,” Palmerton said. “There have essentially been very few problems with gas drilling in New York state.”
Joseph Heath, general counsel for the Onondaga Nation, was also a presenter at the event. He responded to Palmerton’s points.
“[Hydraulic fracturing] produces millions of gallons of frack fluid that can’t be treated anywhere,” he said.
He also expressed concern about gas pipelines being put in through eminent domain law and “compulsory integration.”
“Once they lease 60 percent of the area in there they can drill whether you want them to or not,” he said.
A third guest, Ed Marx, joined Heath and Palmerton for the panel discussion. Marx is the commissioner of Planning and Public Works for Tompkins County. The men were asked questions created by environmental club members.
Regarding the safety of groundwater Heath said: “This industry has accidents. It does pollute both surface water and groundwater. I live on a sole-source aquifer over in Preble, New York. I’m very worried about it.”
Palmerton was less concerned.
“I can tell you as a geologist that putting water in 7,000 feet down, which is some 6,500 feet below any possible water supply, is not going to reach that water supply,” Palemerton said. “It’s trapped by the pressure of the rock.”
A question was also raised about what is done with the “frack fluid” once it is reclaimed.
Palmerton agreed with Heath’s earlier point that there were not enough facilities to treat the wastewater.
“But, once it’s clear that oil and gas development can proceed, companies will come in, will develop those facilities,” he said. “There’s a lot of money that’s out there that’s ready to be invested in those facilities.”
“There are methods of handling the water that comes back up,” Marx added. “It has to be dealt with. You need to put into effect the most reasonable stringent methods.”
But, Marx warned, the composition of the frack fluid may not be know until it comes back up so the proper treatment methods may not be available either.
Heath provoked a round of cheers from the audience toward the end of the discussion when he talked about regulating gas drilling.
“If this industry is to going to proceed there ought to be some limits to it,” he said. “People have a right to water. This is not political, it’s a human right.”
The issue of hydraulic fracturing will possibly be settled when the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation finishes reviewing and responding to public comments regarding the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement.
SGEIS “provides a comprehensive review of the potential environmental impacts of oil and gas drilling and production and how they are mitigated” according to the DEC Web site.
But there is no set time frame for the revised SGEIS to be released.
“We had to provide ample opportunity for the public to weigh in on that proposal,” said Maureen Wren, spokesperson for the DEC in a phone interview. “It will be dependent on how long it takes to review and respond to the comments. And then what, if any, changes are necessary to the SGEIS.”
Some landowners are anxious to see the review process proceed. They’ve organized into coalitions for mutual support. They are being offered lucrative lease agreements to have their land developed.
According to the CNY Land Coalition’s Web site, the latest gas offers in New York are $6,000 per acre with a 20 percent royalty.
“We can move forward now and do it and get it done safely and bring a lot of jobs and money to these areas that are so depressed,” said Dan Fitzsimmons, board member of the Joint Land Owners Coalition. “Bring New York state around and turn it back into being the Empire State which is what we really need to do.”
Natural gas companies also want drilling to proceed.
“It’s a multi-state geologic formation,” said Mark Scheuerman, legal counsel for Talisman USA, an energy company. “Pennsylvania is in the lead. They haven’t paralyzed the industry in order to figure it out. New York has a real risk of being in the backwater ... if they don’t get going fairly soon.”
Organizers of the Skaneateles presentation considered it a success.
“I thought it went pretty well,” said Rick Garrett, environmental club adviser. “I thought it was informative. I do think it represented sides of anti and pro-frackers. We just wanted to get information out on both sides.”
