The Marcellus Shale Drilling
Originally aired March 24th on WSKG Radio
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The Marcellus Shale stretches from eastern Ohio, northern and western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and into the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes region of New York. Decomposition of organic materials in the sediments has trapped vast natural gas reserves in this formation. Those reserves, estimated at more than 363 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, have the potential to “meet the entire nation’s natural gas needs for at least 14 years.” To put this into context, New York state uses about 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas a year.
The Marcellus lies nearly a mile or more below the surface, which makes reaching the natural gas contained within the shale a very expensive operation. Rising energy prices, new horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques and the construction of the Millennium Pipeline through the Southern Tier have made the natural gas reserves more appealing. That has touched off a gas rush, leaving residents as well as local and state governments scrambling to deal with this sudden interest in drilling in the region.
In July, Governor David Paterson signed a bill to streamline the application process for drilling in the Marcellus Shale, but also ordered the state to update the 1992 generic environmental impact statement in order to address issues related to the large volumes of water required for the hydraulic fracturing process. The DEC issued a draft document outlining the issues to be covered in the environmental impact study, and launched a series of public meetings throughout the region in November and early December to allow for public comment on the process. The update will examine the potential impacts from new horizontal drilling techniques, and the potential impact to groundwater, surface water, wetlands, air quality, noise, traffic and other cumulative impacts.
As part of WSKG’s biweekly series, Community Conversation, producer Crystal Sarakas has moderated a series of discussions on the proposed drilling in New York and what impact that could hold for the region. In this third program at 7 p.m. on March 24th, we’ll discuss some of the concerns about the impact the drilling will have on the environment.
To learn more about the Marcellus Shale, natural gas drilling, and the environmental concerns associated with the drilling process use these resources...
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If you have comments about the program or suggestions for future topics,
you can email the producers of the series at communityconversation@wskg.org.
