Fracking’s water use draws attention, concerns – Utica, NY – The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York
December 16, 2011
Fracking’s water use draws attention, concerns – Utica, NY – The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York.
Gas drilling has been a boon for the SRBC, whose budget has doubled since 2007 to $10 million. Its fee income, mostly from gas-industry charges for drilling-site approvals and water withdrawals, h as increased sixfold to $6.2 million.
The gas industry, meanwhile, has tapped into the commission’s workforce. Chesapeake has hired two high-ranking SRBC officials, Michael G. Brownell and Jennifer L. Hoffman, to staff its regulatory-affairs office.
Some environmentalists are worried that drilling has moved forward more quickly than the agency’s ability to understand its consequences, and they are concerned about what will happen when drilling expands into New York State, where the Susquehanna’s tributaries are smaller and more sensitive.
“Nobody has done a build-out of what will happen when drilling is permitted in New York state, which will have a significant impact,” said Katy Dunlap, the eastern water project director of Trout Unlimited Inc.
GDACC 
