Long Island's stake in hydrofracking debate
Men with Cabot Oil and Gas work on a natural gas valve at a hydraulic fracturing site in South Montrose, Pa. The site is about 20 miles south of Binghamton, N.Y. (Jan. 18, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
The heated discussion over the wisdom of vastly expanded drilling for natural gas upstate may seem like a distant debate that doesn't really have much impact on Long Island. But that may not be true. High-volume horizontal fracturing -- or fracking -- produces wastewater that has to be treated. And the list of sewage treatment plants that could handle it includes five in Nassau and Suffolk.
On Jan. 11, the comment period ended for the draft of an updated environmental impact statement on fracking. By the time all the comments are counted, the state's Department of Environmental Conservation expects the number to exceed 40,000. And they'll include a lot of questions to resolve before the state DEC can issue fracking permits. The primary area for the drilling would be the gas-rich Marcellus Shale. It covers an area that includes the state's Southern Tier, along the border with Pennsylvania, east to the New York City reservoirs.
Fracking raises strong emotions: One is hope. Upstate landowners want to lease their property to gas companies and use the income to climb out of the economic doldrums. Local and state officials hope that it will bring in billions in new government revenue. But fracking also raises environmental fear, because it uses high volumes of water, chemicals and sand to free the natural gas from underground rock.
So it's not suprising that the draft impact statement aroused criticism on both sides. The Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York argues that it sets "an unreasonable bar" for development of the resources, reduces the area potentially available for drilling by 50 percent, and sets permitting standards that will "make New York uncompetitive with neighboring states." The Environmental Protection Agency, which is studying fracking nationally, also raised a number of issues. One is whether the DEC, severely depleted by staffing cuts, is strong enough to regulate the drilling and protect the environment.
On the wastewater issue, environmental groups argue that the draft does not say enough about how it will be handled. The DEC plans to look at disposal of this water on a case-by-case basis, before it issues permits. But critics want more details now.
Here's one: The draft does include a list of sewage treatment plants around the state that have the right capacity for treating the waste -- which would include an unknown brew of chemicals and naturally occurring radioactive materials.
In Nassau, the plant list includes Inwood, Bay Park, Cedar Creek and Glen Cove. In Suffolk, it includes the Southwest Sewer District's Bergen Point plant. There's just no way of knowing now whether gas companies would actually use any of these, but it seems like information we really need to have. And the counties should study whether these plants actually could handle fracking wastewater, just in case.
In any case, the number of issues raised makes it unlikely that DEC will issue permits this year. Before it does, the department needs to address the questions from both sides and give us real detail on the ways fracking may affect our sewage treatment plants -- and the sole-source aquifer that they're meant to protect.
