ALBANY — With the stroke of a pen, Gov. David Paterson could give a significant boost to the natural-gas boom in the Southern Tier or slow down the process to better plan for the expected surge in drilling.
Paterson so far isn't saying publicly what he intends to do to the bill, passed last month by the Legislature, but insiders expect him to sign it. Supporters and opponents are lining up on either side of the bill as they await Paterson's decision.
The measure would streamline the permitting process for new wells and bring it up to date with new technology that allows explorers to drill horizontally as well as vertically.
The new drilling technique is considered crucial as developers go after what might be the largest pool of natural gas in the country beneath a geologic formation that stretches from the Southern Tier west into Ohio and south as far as West Virginia.
The largest estimate of the gas waiting to be extracted from the formation, about 500 trillion cubic feet, is two and a half times as much as the entire country uses in a year.
Even if only a tenth of that total can be extracted, it would still generate more than $500 billion in revenue, experts say, with a significant portion of that staying in depressed regions of the state and the country.
Geologists have suspected for decades that the gas is there, but recent technological advances and the surge in prices is now making it both technically and economically feasible to extract.
"The technology is changing, and we've got to keep pace with that change,'' said Gary Lash, a geology professor at SUNY Fredonia and the leading expert on the geologic formation, known as the Marcellus Shale, that is considered likely to hold the huge gas supply.
"This is a move in the right direction. It will speed things up,'' he said of the bill.
But speeding things up is exactly the wrong step to take, said Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, D-Endwell, Broome County, one of seven of the 150 members of the Assembly who voted against the measure.
"Without proper planning and consideration of environmental factors, any attempt to streamline the process is unwise,'' she said.
The bill would give the state Department of Environmental Conservation the power to set uniform standards of spacing between wells to conform to the technology that allows the drilling to spread out from a central point. Without that change, the DEC would have to go through a permitting process for each of potentially thousands of drilling applications.
Lupardo said that she's not convinced that local governments yet have a handle on the impact on roads, air quality and water supplies that drilling a significant number of wells might entail.
And she also wants more information about the fluid that will be injected into the wells to help crack open rock fissures and release the gas. Also, Lupardo questioned whether DEC will have enough staff to keep tabs on the projects.
Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, D-Forestburgh, Sullivan County, the only other upstate lawmaker to vote against the measure, said she didn't see the need for such a speedy change.
"I feel like it should be slowed down,'' she said. "It came up all of a sudden.''
But bill sponsor Assemblyman William Parment, D-North Harmony, Chautauqua County, pointed out that thousands of oil and gas wells have been dug for decades using the technique of forcing water and other liquids into the well, known as "hydrocracking,'' with no substantial adverse environmental effects
"Hydrocracking is a common practice in gas and oil development field and has been practices for many years in New York State without incident,'' he said.
James Tierney, the top DEC official on water issues, said his agency will find out what is in the fluid before it grants any drilling permits.
"What is in this stuff? We don't have any answers yet,'' he said. "But unless we know what it is, we wouldn't grant the permit.''
There is no indication when Paterson will act on the bill.
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I spoke with Assemblywoman Lupardo's Chief of Staff on Wednesday. I made reference to telephone calls I had made to Texas and Wyoming authorities asking them what things municipalities and governments might want to consider before the gas exploration is in full force. I told the staffer that sealed containers for effluent from the drilling operation needs to be mandated...that the gas companies cooperated very well with regulations and did a fine job preserving the landscape and the environment. I spoke with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) people in Pinedale, Wyoming and authorities in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area about the problems they have already addressed. Why does New York State have to always reinvent the wheel. There is no evidence our authorities have asked these questions of people in areas of the country where drilling is already underway in earnest. Instead, Lupardo says "wait 'till we know more." Ostrich with head in sand. Instead, authorize an Oil and Gas Commission to oversee and monitor all well activity and reinstate the Upstate Economic Development Chair to address the aspects associated with the economic boon the gas recovery represents.
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