A coalition to protect the western finger lakes and Genesee valley

A coalition to protect the western finger lakes and Genesee valley.

EPA’s internal Clear Air Act ‘watch list’ | iWatch News

EPA’s internal Clear Air Act ‘watch list’ | iWatch News.

Gas Drilling Tools for Municipalities

Gas Drilling Tools for Municipalities.  Tompkins Co. Planning

Click on “Municipal Tools” for a comprehensive list of measures that municipalities need to take to address impacts of shale gas drilling.

 

Jobs and BusinessRural ResourcesWater ResourcesNatural FeaturesEnergy and ClimateCommunity PlanningPlanning ToolsAdvisory BoardsStaff
 

Municipal Tools for Addressing Potential Gas Drilling Impacts

The information presented here is the result of a yearlong collaboration between the Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG) and Tompkins County Planning Department.  The TCCOG Gas Drilling Task Force has met regularly since May 2010 and has been discussing how municipalities can address issues related to gas drilling.  An additional planner position, supported by Park Foundation funding, was added to the Planning Department staff to assist with this effort.

Even though NYSDEC regulates the well pads and drilling processes, there are a number of other uses that could only be regulated by municipalities including such uses as truck terminals that may cause traffic congestion, dust, and so on.  Municipalities can require such uses to be located only in industrially zoned areas or use the site plan review process to ensure compatibility with adjacent uses.

In order to begin to understand the potential impacts that natural gas extraction and ancillary uses might have on  communities, we encourage municipalities to take the following steps:

  • Educate your municipal board and the public on the HVHF process and potential land use impacts.
  • Determine how and where the DEC will permit gas drilling based on the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement.
  • Assess where gas drilling could take place in your community based on lease patterns, although this could change over time.
  • Utilize the Municipal Tools list and prioritize a review of current plans, laws and regulations or the adoption of new plans, laws and regulations, as applicable to your community.

Scroll through the Municipal Tools and you’ll find these topics:

  • Review Your Comprehensive Plan
  • Review Zoning Ordinance
  • Review Site Plan Regulations
  • Apply Special Use Permits to Certain Uses
  • Roads Protection
  • Designate Critical Environmental Areas (CEA)
  • Aquifer Protection Regulation
  • Wellhead Protection Regulation
  • Noise, Lighting and Air Standards
  • Viewshed (or Scenic Resource) Overlay District
  • Tree Preservation
  • Adopt Pipeline Regulations
  • Manufactured Home Park (MHP) Regulations
  • Subdivision Regulations
  • Floodplain Regulations
  • Extractive Mining Regulations
  • Construction and Post-Construction Stormwater Runoff Control
  • Illicit Discharge Detection and Elmination Regulations
  • Wetlands
  • Fees

Well in Smyrna, Chenango Co. NY

Go to Google maps and Insert 42°43’29.13″N 75°38’48.14″W

Note open waste pits.

Letter: Drilling in residential areas may be possible | Press & Sun-Bulletin | pressconnects.com

Letter: Drilling in residential areas may be possible | Press & Sun-Bulletin | pressconnects.com.

Letter: Drilling in residential areas may be possible

12 Comments

Recent Guest Viewpoints by Binghamton Mayor Matthew T. Ryan and Victor Furman spoke about gas drilling in city or residential areas.

It appears to me that drilling under residential areas could readily occur without permission of residents. Here is how:

A typical Marcellus drilling unit will be two miles long and one-half mile wide.

Drilling from a leased well pad outside a residential area and going more than three-quarters of a mile under residences could easily occur without permission of those landowners using the eminent domain-like legal procedure of Compulsory Integration.

It would only be necessary for the driller to have leased 60 percent of the land outside the residential area.

According to New York environmental conservation law, permission for the rest of the drilling unit can be acquired simply on the request of the driller.

Stanley R. Scobie

Binghamton

Would Jesus Frack?

ENYFAll2011lo Res Final.

Justice: The Way to the Peace That Has Its Heart in God
By the Rt. Rev. Mark S. Sisk
The Rt. Rev. Mark S. Sisk
(continuado en la paginacion 31)
ENY 9-11.e$S_ENY 9&10-08 10/4/11 11:26 AM Page 3

Episcopalians ask: Would Jesus frack? | Politics on the Hudson

Episcopalians ask: Would Jesus frack? | Politics on the Hudson.

DEC SGEIS Hearings

DEC SGEIS Hearings.  Jim Northrup comments

Last night’s other big winner: Opposition to hydrofracking | The Empire

Last night’s other big winner: Opposition to hydrofracking | The Empire.

Corporate funding of Marcellus Shale studies at universities raises alarms

Corporate funding of Marcellus Shale studies at universities raises alarms.