The EPA Hearing that was postponed until further notice was to be centered around the discussion of Water Quality and Safety in respects to Hydrofracking. Today’s edition of “The Capitol Pressroom,” we had Brian Nearing, Science and Environment Reporter from the Albany Times Union, and David Wethe, Energy Reporter for Bloomberg Business News from Houston, Texas, to talk about the financial aspect of Hydrofracking.

Brian gave a great website for listeners to check out, http://wri.eas.cornell.edu/gas_wells_waste.html. This particular link to the WRI (The New York State Water Resources Institute at Cornell University), breaks down how the waste management of Hydrofracking is conducted. Where does all the flowback water, cuttings and drilling muds get contained? What are the NYS regulations for the containment pits that need to be created? What is in hydrofracking fluid? This particular link looks into these questions and provides information pertaining to issues of managing water resources in New York State. Below is the website’s mission statement taken from their site:

The Mission of the New York State Water Resources Institute (WRI) is to improve the management of water resources in New York State and the nation. As a federally and state mandated institution located at Cornell University, we are uniquely situated to access scientific and technical resources that are relevant to New York State’s and the nation’s water management needs. We collaborate with regional, state, and national partners to increase awareness of emerging water resources issues and to develop and assess new water management technologies and policies. WRI connects the water research and water management communities.

David Wethe, an energy reporter from Houston, Texas, talked about the Barnett Shale drilling. Wethe has a four year reporting history of covering issues surrounding the Barnett Shale region. The drilling of this particular shale has been going on since 2008 in Texas. According to wikipedia, experts suggested that the shale formation in the Bend Arch-Fort Worth Basin that spans about 17 counties from the city of Fort Worth and underlies, 5,000 square miles; contains an estimated amount of 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas resources. Wikipedia also went into details saying that the Barnett Shale territory, suggested by experts, possibly having the “largest producible reserves of any onshore natural gas field in the United States.”

With every drilling that takes place – there are pros and cons. David mentioned a positive and that was the boost of revenue for the area. There was job creation and a increase of commerce because of the influx of workers coming in. The downside factors to be considered were noise coming from the drilling site, issues of trucks going back and forth, the issues of lights being used during late night drilling – to name a few. The walls that were created to provide some sort of a noise reduction were 20 feet high and covered only so much of the drilling site. These walls are really thick and very expensive to produce.

Wethe left listeners with some advice – know your rules and rights especially if drilling will be taking place in an area that will affect your neighborhood/community. Having a good rapport with elected officials and the companies that are coming into to do the drillings is extremely important!

The drilling series is an on-going effort to better educate those who are taking a strong interest in Hydrofracking. Our next topic of discussion will be how gas drilling will affect municipalities.

(*posted by Jennifer Kelley, Producer)