Here & There Column 7-15-08

Klatch Discussion On Natural Gas Drilling

There's gold in them thar hills but from all the fuss that is being made here in Sullivan County the rush is on by national gas companies who give indications that parts of Sullivan County are on the edge of a formation that reportedly contains twice as much natural gas as the rest of the United States.
Our local coffee klatsch was raring to go last week when the topic of folks in the county townships of Delaware, Fremont and Cochecton getting rich on the gas rush.
As we brewed our fresh home made coffee with ground beans and mixed the batter for homemade oven baked donuts one of our members remarked that he had a discussion with a resident of Delaware who is considering leasing a lot of his acreage for between $2,000 and $2,500 an acre where royalties for some could get up to over $20,000 a month.
Several in our group hesitate at statements being made that this gas rush will produce the golden egg dream many are saying will happen.
Two klatsch members pointed out that drilling procedures give very little authority to local municipalities and those regulations only control roads and assessments.
It was noted during discussion on regulations for this industry that there will not be very much federal input but that New York State has some enforcement authority. The federal government may have some power in the area of the Delaware River Basin Commission. The state DEC has some authority but does not monitor air, water or soil quality.
With the second cup of Java and more donuts discussion in our group turned up several concerns associated with gas drilling which uses a massive number of trucks to haul equipment and water to and from drilling sites. This heavy truck traffic might also expose personal vehicles sharing these roads to serious safety hazards. One in our group said that the additional truck traffic also pollutes the air and increases noise along roadways. Gas pipeline ruptures and potential pollutions of sources of water was another concern offered during our talk.
Our klatsch unanimously agreed that we live in a world today that is starving for more energy and given the advantages of natural gas as a fuel, drilling should take place but property owners who agree to leasing arrangements should secure all the protection and legal advise they can get. Municipalities should help and provide additional protection and they should even look into the possibility of what's in it for them and all of Sullivan County.