Tide of Public Opinion Turning Against Gas Drilling?

The tragic oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico may be having an unintended effect here in New York state. Awareness of gas drilling seems to be much more widespread, and I'm sensing a turn in public opinion against it. A quick refresher for those of you who haven't been following it. Sullivan County, and in fact all of the Catskills up to a point just southwest of Albany, sits on the Marcellus Shale, regarded as one of the most important natural gas finds in the Continental U.S. The Marcellus stretches for almost 600 miles, from West Virginia and Ohio, through northern Pennsylvania, across New York along the northern PA border and ends somewhere in Greene County. The Marcellus is being actively drilled using a technique known as "hydrofracking" in those other states, but New York has taken a more cautious approach. The New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation has put horizontal drilling permits on hold here pending the issuance of new drilling guidelines, which has been expected later this year.

The politicos in Albany have been pretty much singing a chorus of "Drill, Baby, Drill." That is, until the Gulf oil disaster, which has cast a cloud over all big energy companies, including the gas companies hoping to cash in on the "Marcellus play." Their public relations fueled claims of safety are being met with a huge dose of skepticism. Even some Republicans among my friends (and mind you, that's a small sample) have moved into the caution camp, from their more typical perch of supporting big profits for big companies over environmental concerns.

Yesterday on "All Things Considered" on NPR, there was a long piece on gas drilling in the Marcellus, as well as a column in the New York Times urging the adoption of a drilling moratorium in New York state. On June 21st, the documentary Gasland has its national premier on HBO. (There is a special screening tonight at the HBO Theater in NYC as well as screening Friday evening, June 18th at Sullivan County Community College in Loch Sheldrake. Click the Gasland link for more info.) Arguably, Gasland has a strong point of view in the tradition of Michael Moore. But it will still have an impact on public opinion. Media outlets across the state, from Buffalo to New York City, have also upped their coverage of gas drilling in the wake of the Gulf.

The politicos in Albany, who often only have one agenda item, their own self preservation, may be sensing the shift. There's been a flurry of activity over the past couple of weeks to enact some type of temporary drilling moratorium in New York state. Two versions of a moratorium have been proposed, one calling for any permit issuance to be delayed until 120 days after the completion of a federal EPA study on hydrofracking (expected to take about two years); the other calls for a one year moratorium. At this point, it appears that only the one year option has a chance of passing, and the drop dead on that will be today. (See the Albany Project post about this. The arcane workings of Albany are beyond my understanding.)

One of the most interesting things in the past few weeks has not been watching the anti-drilling forces gaining traction, but rather the response from the gas industry. A press release issued by the Independent Oil and Gas Industry of New York State on June 14th was titled "New Gas Drilling Moratorium Bill Would Be Deadly to New York Economy." Oh, give me a break. That sounds more like the kind of argument that the oil industry probably made to Dick Cheney when they sought to eliminate a requirement to require acoustic shut off systems on off shore oil wells because, at $500,000 per, they were "too expensive." (From what I've read, the Gulf oil disaster could have been avoided if these shut offs were in place.) The New York economy won't collapse if we delay drilling for a year or two. And the landowner coalitions have even organized demonstrations in Albany. They want to cash in, and they want to cash in now, baby. Let the drilling begin and let my royalty check flow.

This is one of those classic upstate versus downstate, Republican versus Democrat fights But I would say the Republicans, who are part of the party that cozied up to the oil industry to loosen drilling regulations in the Gulf of Mexico, don't have a lot of moral high ground on this one. It will be very interesting to see what happens.

Comments

[David Knudsen]

One more thought. If the IOGA (The Independent Oil and Gas Association of NY) is so concerned about the economy of New York state and the vital contribution their industry will provide, how about supporting a severance tax on extracted gas. (New York is one of only two states, along with Pennsylvania, that doesn't have a severance tax.) So the statement in the press release, "Millions of dollars will be paid to local governments in the form of severance and income taxes," rings pretty hollow. The gas industry has been fighting the imposition of a severance tax in Pennsylvania tooth and nail. And in terms of j-o-b-s, what about the gas industry making a commitment that a certain percentage of drilling jobs will be reserved for New Yorkers, even if that involves setting up training programs here. When I was driving around the drill sites last week over in Susquehanna and Bradford counties in PA, it seemed like a lot of the pick up trucks parked at drill sites had out of state plates. So a lot of that so-called economic benefit is flowing back out of Pennsylvania to pay mortgages and property taxes and buy stuff in West Virginia and Texas.

[Brad]

Dave,

Thanks for all the timely information recently on what is a very important topic for the county. Unfortunately you are probably right that it took the Gulf disaster to point out to some people that the oil/gas industry doesn't always do what is in the general public's interest. Sadly either do the politicians, and the jobs thing, as you point out, is very over hyped. This type of drilling would benefit very few people, yet put NYC's and local land owners water supply in jeopardy. Clearly some new revenue would be generated, but whether that would be a net positive over the long run would seem to be debatable once all the new costs for water treatments plants, the free cost of all the water needed for this type of drilling operation, rebuilding roads abused by high truck traffic, increased noise pollution, and lastly the real threat of water pollution. That is why further testing on this type of drilling is needed and hopefully one of the moratoriums you discussed will get passed so there will be time to better understand the consequences. Having seen parts of Gasland in the past year, I can highly recommend it and encourage anyone considering selling the drilling rights to their land to watch it.

Keep up the great work.

Brad

[Victoria Parmele]

Great to see that this story is heating up around the country, thanks in part to the Gulf oil spill, and also Gasland.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/06/gulf-oil-spill-bp-hydraulic-fracturing-gas-fracking-.html

Thanks Dave for covering it in the Catskills -

[Tom P]

Sorry to see that you appeased a certain portion of readers by using the "strong point of view in the tradition of Michael Moore" angle. While Josh Fox is certainly passionate I think its very clear what his intentions are. All he wants to do is preserve the natural beauty in the area where his family raised him, the Upper Delaware River in PA (though a little notoriety for his film career is surely a side benefit) .

Fox actually contacted Halliburton and gas companies and requested they inform him of any town that had experienced no adverse impact on their water supply subsequent to hydraulic fracturing. He got no reply.

He tried to offer up the scenario where the locals saw new jobs and higher wages and no flammable drinking water, but noone was able to provide him with a successful drilling area.

This is not some wacko, pinko commie taking drugs and railing on big business. This is a smart next door neighbor who has been taking years of his life to try and protect the area in which we live from years of pollution and unknown underground destruction.

[keith]

A gas company spokesman made a public announcement today addressing peoples fears of foreign substances entering their drinking water due to proximity to gas wells. The spokesman assured the public there is no reason for concern since the gas company has no intention of billing people for any methane gas that comes out of their faucets. They also will not be billing for the benzene, a chemical with benefits such as the elimination of the need to use soap when bathing and the need for detergents when using the dishwasher or the washing machine. The benzene will also help prevent water pipes from freezing up in the winter. Benzene will also keep teeth cleaner so it will have a positive effect on dental hygiene, much like fluoridated water.

[John]

Saw Gasland last night,this movie is a must see for all sullivan county residents.Bottom line- "fracking" is not benign and in fact is very destructive.Those who benefit from lease $ will regret it and the rest of us will see tremendous degradation of the quality of life in our area.

[Bix]

I agree with John. Gasland is a devastating film, a really powerful weapon for the anti-gas forces. It absolutely must be seen by anyone who still thinks that natural gas can be safely drilled via fracking.

[ar]

It wasn't "downstaters" who signed the gas leases in this article from today's Times Record Herald --

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100627/NEWS/100629821

In fact, I question whether any "downstaters" are signing leases upstate. After all, isn't it the upstaters who own the land which requires the leases to allow the drilling?

Calling this a "classic upstate versus downstate" conflict makes no sense to me.