CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

As part of an ongoing examination of the possible impacts of shale gas well development in Wyoming County, the Board of Supervisors has recently established a new standing sub-committee. The Marcellus Shale Gas Sub-committee chaired by Supervisor James Fleischman of the town of Java, is represented by various county departments and agencies, as well as town supervisors: Chairman A.D. Berwanger of Arcade, Douglas Patti of Attica, Joseph Gozelski of Castile, Joseph Kushner of Eagle, Larry Rogers of Pike and John Knab of Sheldon.

New advances in the technology used to extract natural gas from tight rock formations like shale have revolutionized the ability of drilling companies to vastly increase the recovery of gas trapped in rock formations such as the Marcellus Shale. Estimated to contain trillions of cubic feet of high-quality natural gas, the Marcellus Shale formation underlies portions of eight states including New York's southern tier and Wyoming County.

Currently, New York State has enacted a moratorium restricting the use of horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing; the two techniques being employed in neighboring Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the Marcellus and also used in Texas, and Louisiana in gas plays such as the Barnett and Hainesville shale groups among others. The moratorium will remain in force while the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) develops new regulations regarding these drilling practices for inclusion in the state's generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) and permit process.

The DEC received and is responding to approximately 14,000 comments from the public prior to making its final determination. One important aspect of the statewide GEIS as it relates to gas and oil extraction is that "home rule" has been superseded, meaning that local communities have very limited control over gas and oil drilling operations.

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