DELHI _ The Delaware County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to oppose an effort to tighten natural-gas drilling rules within the New York City watershed.
The city's Department of Environmental Protection has requested in a letter that the state Department of Environmental Conservation adopt more-stringent regulations, including a ban on natural-gas drilling within a one-mile radius of reservoirs or reservoir stems.
Colchester Supervisor Bob Homovich said the proposed buffer zone would eliminate natural-gas drilling in a large portion of Delaware County.
"If we are going to get energy-independent, we have to start somewhere," Homovich said. "The whole history of this area is that we have lived off our natural resources, and this is no different."
Homovich said natural-gas drilling is an opportunity to improve the well-being and lifestyle of everyone in the county.
"When the tide goes up, all boats rise," Homovich said.
Homovich charged that the DEP doesn't want economic growth in the watershed, and the sale of gas leases will "knock the city's land-acquisition program right in the head.
"A lease with continuous royalties is a lot better than selling your land or signing an easement," Homovich said.
Deposit Supervisor Thomas Axtell said the county's Watershed Affairs Committee, of which he is a member, brought the proposition to the board to point out that if the DEC allows the city to impose additional regulations, the agency is violating its own environmental law.
The county contends that if the DEC supports a drilling ban on all watershed lands within a mile of resevoirsNew York City infrastructure, then DEC is in violation of its mandate to efficiently utilize the state's natural resources.
In that case, it could be liable to provide funding to landowners in the watershed to compensate for lost income opportunities.
Axtell said gas drilling represents a significant economic boon to the area. The attempt to stop it, he added, is an example of "New York City being the big bully to everyone in the watershed.
"A lot of people in the towns of Deposit, Hancock, Walton and Tompkins have signed leases, and now, after the fact, the city wants to impose drilling regulations," Axtell added.
Yancey Roy, DEC public relations spokesman, said the agency is preparing a Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with natural-gas mining using horizontal drilling in the Marcellus Shale. Those include any potential impact on groundwater and surface water.
Roy said the state did receive the letter from the DEP and has acknowledged the city's concerns.
"The state has just launched the process to update the environmental review, and everyone will have an opportunity to comment," Roy said.
According to the county resolution, banning natural-gas drilling within the New York City watershed while allowing it elsewhere that is a source of drinking water , including groundwater, will discriminate against private landowners in the watershed.
Such a situation, the county said, would deprive landowners of long-term income and will deprive the local municipalities of potential real property tax benefits.
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Patricia Breakey can be reached at 746-2894 or at stardelhi@stny.rr.com.
