I think its important to clarify that “No Gas Here” does not mean that Bans are not needed.
As Chip has said succinctly- The “reward” of gas drilling has been grossly overstated, but the risks remain unaddressed.
Here’s some things that Caroline’s ban prevents in addition to actual drilling.
Natural Gas And/Or Petroleum Exploration Activities – Geologic or geophysical activities related to the search for natural gas, petroleum or other subsurface hydrocarbons, including prospecting, geophysical and geologic seismic surveying and sampling techniques, but only to the extent that such activities involve or employ core, rotary, or any other type of drilling or otherwise make any penetration or excavation of any land or water surface in the search for and evaluation of natural gas, petroleum, or other subsurface hydrocarbon deposits.
Natural Gas And/Or Petroleum Support Activities – Shall mean and be any one or more of the following: (a) Natural Gas Compression Facility; (b) Natural Gas Processing Facility; (c) Natural Gas And/Or Petroleum Extraction, Exploration Or Production Wastes Disposal/Storage Facility; (d) Natural Gas And/Or Petroleum Extraction, Exploration Or Production Wastes Dump; (e) Land Application Facility; (f) Non-Regulated Pipelines; (g) Underground Injection; or (h) Underground Natural Gas Storage.
Natural Gas And/Or Petroleum Extraction, Exploration Or Production Wastes Disposal/Storage Facility – Any of the following: (a) tanks of any construction (metal, fiberglass, concrete, etc.); (b) impoundments; (c) pits; (d) evaporation ponds; or (e) other facilities, in any case used for the storage or treatment of Natural Gas And/Or Petroleum Extraction, Exploration Or Production Wastes that: (i) are being held for initial use, (ii) have been used and/or are being held for subsequent reuse or recycling, (iii) are being held for treatment, or (iv) are being held for storage.
Natural Gas And/Or Petroleum Extraction, Exploration Or Production Wastes Dump – Land upon which Natural Gas And/Or Petroleum Extraction, Exploration Or Production Wastes, or their residue or constituents before or after treatment, are deposited, disposed, discharged, injected, placed, buried or discarded, without any intention of further use.
Natural Gas Compression Facility – Those facilities or combinations of facilities that move natural gas or petroleum from production fields or natural gas processing facilities in pipelines or into storage; the term shall include equipment for liquids separation, natural gas dehydration, and tanks for the storage of waste liquids and hydrocarbon liquids.
Natural Gas Processing Facility – Those facilities that separate and recover natural gas liquids (NGLs) and/or other non-methane gases and liquids from a stream of produced natural gas, using equipment for any of the following: cleaning or stripping gas; cooking and dehydration; residual refinement; treating or removing oil or condensate; removing water; separating NGLs; removing sulfur or carbon dioxide; fractionation of NGLs; and/or the capture of CO2 separated from natural gas streams.
Underground Natural Gas Storage – Subsurface storage, including in depleted gas or oil reservoirs and salt caverns, of natural gas that has been transferred from its original location, whether for the purpose of load balancing the production of natural gas or for any other reason, including without limitation short-term, long-term, or intermittent storage for product quality, processing, or transportation purposes, or because of market conditions. Without limitation, this term includes compression and dehydration facilities, and associated pipelines.
Hope this helps clarify why we still need Town Bans even if there is not a profitable amount of gas to recover in Tompkins County. Without a ban, you town is still susceptible to all the above risks from drilling in neighboring areas.
In addition, your Towns should enact Road Preservation and Aquifer Protection Laws.
Irene Weiser
Brooktondale, NY