CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

LIBERTY, NY — It was supposed to be a closed meeting with state officials and town officials only, to talk about gas drilling regulations, but when people heard about it, they crowded into the meeting room.

Everybody has gas drilling on their minds lately.

The meeting was hosted by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and held at the Cornell Cooperative Extension on July 1. Bradley J. Field, director of the Bureau of Resource Management and Development, was on hand to answer questions.

What came across more than any other concern was that the town officials want the DEC to help them deal with the many issues that drilling raises.

“I’m concerned with the open ponds at the drilling sites,” said Callicoon supervisor Linda Babicz. “We’re in a flood zone and it would make more sense to have steel collection ponds.”

Babicz was referring to the on-site storage of the fluids used in drilling—each well requires about two million gallons of water, which is mixed with sand and a “recipe” of toxic materials and collected in a pond. This pool of water must then be removed and taken to a treatment plant.

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