Get all the facts on fracking

One of the toughest decisions facing the state -- and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo -- is how to strike the right balance between the potential economic benefits and the possible risks of vastly expanded drilling for natural gas. Despite the flurry of recent stories about the Cuomo-induced release of a draft state environmental study, New York still has a lot of work to do. The governor wants the decision made on the facts, but we're not there yet.

The current study by the Department of Environmental Conservation is an update of one done in 1992, before the major push for high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. This drilling method injects huge amounts of water, mixed with chemicals, into geological formations like upstate's Marcellus Shale, to release the gas. It raises concerns about depletion of the clean water and disposal of the contaminated water.

Last year, the legislature passed a bill imposing a moratorium on fracking. Gov. David A. Paterson vetoed it. Instead, he issued an executive order imposing a moratorium only on the most environmentally threatening form of it. And he told DEC to finish its study by June 1. The agency missed the deadline, and Cuomo's office told DEC to put it out fast. DEC did. That may make industry, land owners and job-starved upstate communities smile. But it's more restrictive than an updated 2009 version, so environmentalists like it better.

For example, the study says DEC would ban high-volume fracking in the watersheds of New York City and Syracuse, and on state land, but allow it in 85 percent of the Marcellus. And DEC will formulate regulations. That will take time, which pleases environmentalists, but will provide regulatory certainty, which is good for industry. So, a little for both sides.

But the 900-page document DEC is releasing is still incomplete. When it's done, later in the summer, there will be a 60-day comment period. No permits will be issued until the comments are considered and the final document comes out, many months from now.

Meanwhile, the imperative for haste is real. Upstate communities are dying for meaningful economic development, and Cuomo has rightly put strong emphasis on creating jobs. A report released yesterday by the nonprofit Citizens Campaign for the Environment on eight counties in the Finger Lakes region demonstrates the stakes. In all, 602,000 acres in those counties have been leased for mineral extraction -- a fifth of their land mass. And 71 percent of the leases are held by two large natural gas companies. Citizens Campaign chose the Finger Lakes region because it has an agricultural, winery and tourist economy, in addition to its gas deposits. The state has to figure out what fracking would do to those industries, as well as to the groundwater.

We need the answers soon, but not before we get the facts. DEC would be better able to get them if it hadn't lost so many staffers to state budget cuts. So Cuomo should think twice before layoffs or more budget cutting there. And industry is showing some willingness to defray the costs of the study. That should be explored. Whatever Cuomo has to spend on getting this study done quickly and right, he has to see those costs as an investment in both the economy and the environment. hN