By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau
COOPERSTOWN _ More than 100 people turned out Friday at the Otesaga Hotel as U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri, D-Utica, called on the DEC to rewrite regulations for natural gas drilling.
"Natural gas is a tremendous resource, but when we extract it, we have to move forward in a way that protects an even more important resource, our water," he said. "When New York state re-emerges as the Empire State, it will not be because of natural gas; it will be because of our abundant water resources." Regulations proposed so far by the state Department of Environmental Conservation do not inspire confidence that gas can be extracted safely, he said. The DEC is not adequately staffed to oversee drilling operations, and the agency's proposed rules are not specific enough to assure the public, he said.
Experts say that much of central New York is sitting upon natural gas trapped in shale beds thousands of feet below ground. In other areas of the nation, firms have employed horizontal drilling and hydrofracking to help the gas flow to the surface.
Hydrofracking is the process of pumping water, sand and various chemicals into the ground under tremendous pressure to fracture rock and release gas.
Drilling advocates say fracking is necessary to make gas drilling economically viable by increasing flows. Opponents argue that it may pollute land and water, either with the fluid itself or pollutants from underground.
Arcuri, who is in the last year of his second term, acknowledged that state officials shoulder most of the responsibility for regulating drilling in the state.
"But it's a federal issue, too," he said, noting that in 2005, before he was elected, Congress voted to exempt natural gas drilling from the federal Clean Air and Clean Water acts.
The congressman questioned why the industry wanted the exemptions, if drilling is as safe as proponents have said.
"It's about as crazy as can be," he said.
Arcuri said he is among a few representatives working to reverse these exemptions, and he pledged to attach the proposed "frac act" to any bill he can as a member of the House Transportation and Rules committees.
However, re-regulating the industry at the federal level will be difficult, he said.
Arcuri was in Cooperstown at the invitation of Sustainable Otsego, a group that has been critical of the DEC's proposed new drilling rules, the draft supplemental generic environmental impact statement on horizontal gas drilling and hydrofracking.
The audience seemed largely, but not entirely, supportive of Arcuri's stance, based on applause and questions asked.
Lou Allstadt of Cooperstown, who identified himself as a former executive vice president of Mobil Oil, said he thinks the DEC's proposed rules "are the worst I've seen." Before firms are given permits to drill, they should be required to show they have contracts to reprocess contaminated water from well sites, he said.
But Dan Naughton of Cooperstown said people and municipalities need the revenue that gas drilling might provide, and another speaker said fracking fluids have never contaminated water wells.
Several officials, including Otsego County Board Chairman Sam Dubben, Hartwick town Supervisor Patricia Ryan, Oneonta Alderman Erik Miller and Cooperstown Deputy Mayor Jeff Katz, attended Friday's presentation. At its conclusion, Dubben noted that gas drilling has become a political issue, and Arcuri has staked out his position for the upcoming campaign.''
