Hydrofracking comment period to start in ‘late summer,’ DEC says

By Jon Campbell jcampbell1@gannett.com

August 1, 2011

ALBANY — The public will likely have to wait until September to get its say on the state’s review of the controversial hydraulic fracturing process for natural gas drilling.

The Department of Environmental Conservation received a report late last month from a Buffalo-based consulting company that proposes ways to limit the effects on communities and municipalities from an anticipated spike in activity by the natural gas industry.

The department now is considering how to plug the consultant’s recommendations into its own proposed regulations, spokeswoman Emily DeSantis said Monday. After that, an updated draft of DEC proposals will be made public and opened up to a 60-day comment period by “late summer,” likely beginning in September, she said.

The comment period was originally expected to start this month.

“What we’ve been saying all along is that there is no firm time frame for this,” DeSantis said. “We’re taking the time to make sure this is done right.”

The DEC’s recommendations for curbing the environmental impact of high-volume hydrofracking — a method involving the injection of a mix of water, sand and chemicals deep into gas-rich underground shale formations — have been three years in the making.

An initial draft review received 13,000 comments and packed auditoriums at public hearings in 2009.

Ecology and Environment Inc. was hired by the DEC earlier this year to highlight both the positive and negative socioeconomic effects of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations, which sit beneath the Southern Tier and other portions of New York.

The company’s report, which will be made public when the comment period opens, was also set to include an analysis of visual and noise impacts from the industry, as well as the effects of increased truck traffic on the state’s infrastructure.

Katherine Nadeau, water and natural resources program director for Environmental Advocates of New York, said she hopes the consultant’s study considers human health.

“Part of what we’re hoping to see here is some assessment of human health impacts,” Nadeau said. “This is not something that has been included anywhere else in the (DEC) document, and it’s something that concerned citizens across the state have been calling for.”

The DEC also hasn’t made a final decision on whether or not to host public hearings on its latest draft review. That decision will be announced when department officials have a better handle on the time frame of the public-comment period, DeSantis said.

Scott Kurkoski, an attorney representing the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, said the coalition’s members are urging the DEC not to host another round of hearings.

Hydrofracking-related hearings across the Southern Tier have at times attracted large protests and heated rhetoric.

“These public hearings are used for political reasons and end up being circus atmospheres,” Kurkoski said. “The good, substantive comments can be put in writing and sent to the DEC, and we know the DEC will really be able to look at all of those substantive comments.”

“From the landowners’ point of view, we just want the DEC to stay on track and to have this released in a timely manner,” he continued.

Nadeau disagreed, calling public hearings an “incredibly important part of the public process.”

“Public hearings are a really important vehicle for everyone who wants to be heard to have their comments heard and to be counted on the record,” Nadeau said.

Permits for high-volume hydrofracking won’t be issued until a final version of the DEC report is complete, which isn’t expected until some point next year, according to the department.