CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

New York's moratorium on Marcellus shale drilling allowed regulators there to learn from experiences in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, a top official said Tuesday.

New York state has not allowed gas well drilling into the shale for two years and plans to issue strict rules before doing so, said Jack Dahl, director of the Bureau of Oil and Gas Regulation in the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.

Regulators in New York would require companies to disclose chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing -- which Pennsylvania does not -- and to hold flowback water in closed containers, rather than the open pits allowed in Pennsylvania, Dahl said. New York would not issue permits for more wells than it could routinely inspect, Dahl said.

The number of permits for conventional gas wells in New York dropped to 552 last year from 744 the previous year, Dahl said, and likely will not break 500 this year. Gas companies are investing instead in states that permit Marcellus shale drilling, he said.

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