Updated 04/19/2010 11:30 AM
Environmental advocates want study done before drilling process begins
Natural gas drilling in New York is on hold and environmental groups want it to stay that way. But as our Curtis Schick reports, landowners say the longer the state waits, the more money everyone will lose.
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
SULLIVAN COUNTY, N.Y. -- If you live in Calicoon, you are just a short drive across the bridge from Pennsylvania. The Delaware River is the natural line between New York and the Keystone State in these parts, and it is also the dividing line some say between economic boom and bust.
“If you were drilling a well right here where I am standing, you would hit commercial quantities of natural gas,” said Noel van Swol, Sullivan-Delaware Property Owners Association.
You see, in Pennsylvania, no more than a few hundred yards away, natural gas drilling using the horizontal hydrofracture method is up and running in areas above the Marcellus Shale formation.
In New York, Department of Environmental Conservation officials are still developing drilling rules, but we now know when those rules will be done.
In a published report, a DEC official speaking at an Albany business conference said, "The entire process, including the issuance of permits, would be finished in 2010."
Van Swol said it’s about time. The leader of a landowners group that all together has 70,000 acres in the Marcellus says gas drilling will dig this part of New York out of an economic hole.
“This is a god send this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that can rejuvenate this region,” said van Swol.
“They need to wait until the EPA study to come out,” said Ramsay Adams, Catskill mountain keeper.
Ramsay Adams of Catskill mountain keeper doesn't think the drilling will start this year. Adams says at the same time the DEC is developing its rules, the federal Environmental Protection Agency is also studying natural gas drilling. Adams says by waiting New York can use information from the EPA study to develop its regulations.
“It's the only common sense thing to do,” said Adams.
Adams says natural gas drilling will bring major environmental damage to the region for the short term gain of a few, but van Swol says he is confident the rules the DEC comes up with will prevent that from happening.