Hi Folks,
Below is a slightly-updated version of an article that I wrote
for the Cayuga Bird Club newsletter this month (with excellent editing by
Anne Marie Johnson). Im posting it here for people who dont get the
newsletter, as Ive been thinking about mentioning this topic on the
listserve for a while. I am desperately concerned about the effects of gas
drilling on our local environment and birding areas, and hope youll take a
little time to read this, even though its not a bird sighting! (I was
thinking of putting bird names throughout it in capital letters, just to
keep you going.)
Four days ago, the DEC released the proposed regulations for
the gas industry in an 809-page document (explained below). Please take
the time to learn a little about its provisions (Im just starting to slog
through it, but there will be articles from environmental groups out soon)
and to comment to DEC. The next 60 days (until November 30) are the only
chance we have to affect the regulations before the final version is
produced and gas drilling begins in earnest here.
Thanks,
Sandy Podulka
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Gas Drilling Threatens Local Birding Areas
A new type of gas drilling is coming soon to the Finger Lakes
Region. Rumors abound, but one thing seems certain: in the next few years
residents will see a dramatic transformation of the local area to a more
industrial landscape. How many wells will be drilled? How rapidly? Economic
uncertainty makes answering these questions difficult, but predictions
range from hundreds to thousands of wells over the next 5 to 20 years. For
information on the new drilling process and its environmental effects, see
Environmental Impacts of Gas Drilling, below. For how local birding areas
may be affected, read on!
Gas Leases in Tompkins County
My husband, Bill, and I, with the help of many volunteers,
have created a web site (<http://www.tcgasmap.org/>www.tcgasmap.org)
containing a tax parcel map of Tompkins County with all the gas leases
recorded between January 2005 and August 2009 plotted. Currently, 37% of
the land area of the county is leased, but percents are higher in some
towns, such as Caroline (49%) and Groton (65%). Although it feels like many
people are leasing, only 6% of the adult, non-college student population
have leases.
Our map illustrates that one public birding area, Myers Point,
has been leased. Salmon Creek Bird Sanctuary, Lindsay-Parsons Biodiversity
Preserve, Baldwin Tract of the Park Preserve, Lick Brook, and Ringwood
Preserve all have many leases bordering them, and the birding areas on Sand
Bank Road and Ford Hill Road are nearly completely leased. Mt. Pleasant and
birding sites near the Ithaca Airport are still relatively lease-free, but
many of these areas are owned by Cornell University. Cornell administrators
have not yet decided which, if any, of Cornells 11,000 acres in the county
will be leased. The public relations office says they are waiting for the
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to produce
its final regulations (see Regulations, below).
The good news is that so far most State Forests (except Potato
Hill in Caroline) and Wildlife Management Areas in the county remain
unleased, and State Parks may not be leased (although there is currently a
controversy over drilling in Allegheny State Park in Western New York).
Intense gas drilling will probably not extend as far north as Montezuma, so
that area may not incur direct effects.
Our map only shows leases recorded in the last five years. There
are another 700+ leases from 2000 to 2004--some of these have expired, and
some are still in effect, but we are unable to determine from public
records which ones have expired. So, more land is leased than indicated on
the map, but we cannot tell how much more.
Environmental Impacts of Gas Drilling
New drilling techniques proposed for this area, already being
employed in other parts of the country, involve drilling 2,000 to 5,000
feet deep (to the Marcellus Shale) and then drilling as much as a mile
horizontally. Then, in a procedure called high-volume or slick water
hydraulic fracturing or (hydrofracking), 3 to 5 million gallons of water
laced with sand and hundreds of toxic chemicals (including benzene,
toluene, and formaldehyde) are pumped into the hole under very high
pressure to fracture the shale and release the gas. At least 65 of the
chemicals are classified as hazardous under federal laws, but are not
treated as hazardous during drilling and disposal because of gas industry
exemptions.
Fracking fluids can be pumped under the homes and land of
people who have not signed leases, as well as under the natural areas where
we like to bird, because once 60% of a designated land unit is leased, the
state allows companies to extend wells underground throughout the whole
unit. This compulsory integration is a form of eminent domain. The
water-more per well than the City of Ithaca uses in a day-is taken out of
local streams and ponds (for free), and could drain or otherwise impact
local aquatic and wetland habitats.
The fracking fluid picks up salts, radioactivity, and heavy
metals (including lead, arsenic, and mercury) as it passes through the
underground shale layers, so when much of it comes back out it is even more
toxic. To dispose of waste fracking fluid, gas companies may inject it deep
underground and leave it, truck it to Pennsylvania, or have it treated and
released locally. Current wastewater treatment facilities in the state are
probably not able to deal with these wastes without serious upgrading, and
it is not even clear whether upgrading will enable them to remove these
types of toxic chemicals adequately.
Well pads, which may host one or many gas wells and will be 3
to 5 acres or larger, are cleared, industrial areas with roads, drill rigs,
pipelines, storage tanks, dozens of tanker trucks, buildings for workers,
and holding pits for fracking fluids and drilling refuse. The holding pits
attract wildlife (due to the salt) and can be lethal to birds and other
wildlife that drink from them or are coated by the fluids. Pit liners may
leak, pits may overflow, or fluids may be spilled, contaminating soil,
surface water, and ground water. Bright lights, which stay on 24 hours per
day, 7 days a week, for the life of the well (20 to 60 years), may confuse
or attract migrating birds. There are numerous reports around the country
of drilling contaminating drinking wells and surface water and generating
substantial air pollution, traffic, dust, and noise. Just one well fracking
requires nearly 1,000 tanker truck trips to the site. There are numerous
economic and societal costs as well, but those are not the focus of this
article.
Every individual well will be connected to the Millennium
Pipeline, which runs from Corning to near New York City, through a vast
network of pipelines snaking throughout our region. Well pads will be at
densities ranging from 1 per 40 acres to 1 per 640 acres. The numerous
pipelines and well sites will dramatically fragment our landscape.
Regulations
High-volume hydrofracking will begin in New York as soon as
the DEC produces a final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
(SGEIS). The oil and gas industry is exempt from virtually every major
federal environmental law (Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Superfund Law,
Safe Drinking Water Act, Right to Know Act, and Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act) and all local ordinances, such as noise and zoning, except
for road and real property tax laws. Thus, the state regulations are the
only oversight for this industry.
What You Can Do
DEC released the daunting, 809-page Draft SGEIS on Sept. 30,
and we can all read parts of it and make comments during the 60-day comment
period. The New York State Ornithological Association web site says
Birders and birding organizations will need to be involved in review of
the SGEIS to ensure that potential impacts to birds from drilling are
identified and addressed. The Cayuga Bird Club can join other
organizations, such as NRDC, Sierra Club, and Environmental Advocates, in
sending comments to the DEC. To help preserve local bird habitats, we also
can pressure Cornell not to lease its vast landholdings.
Final Thoughts
I hope this article will stimulate some discussion among us,
because, in the words of Caroline Town Supervisor Don Barber, This is the
biggest change in our local landscape since the original forests were cut.
I urge you to research this issue yourself. Shaleshock Citizens Action
Alliance, a grassroots group of Finger Lakes residents concerned about
drilling, has an informative web site at
<http://www.shaleshock.org/>www.shaleshock.org. Or, visit
<http://www.tcgasmap.org/>www.tcgasmap.org, the web site Bill and I
created, which has basic gas drilling information and tons of links to
photos, articles, and reports in addition to the map of leases in Tompkins
County. It also has a page of information on the SGEIS, which I will update
frequently. People who would like more information or advocacy suggestions
on this topic are welcome to contact me at
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected] or at 539-7275.
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