Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement On The Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Regulatory Program: Well Permit Issuance for Horizontal Drilling and High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing to Develop the Marcellus Shale and Other Low-Permeability Gas Reservoirs. (Revised Draft)

摘要

In New York, the primary target for shale-gas development is currently the Marcellus Shale, with the deeper Utica Shale also identified as a potential resource. Additional low-permeability reservoirs may be considered by project sponsors for development by high-volume hydraulic fracturing. The Department has received applications for permits to drill horizontal wells to evaluate and develop the Marcellus Shale for natural gas production by high-volume hydraulic fracturing. The Department has prepared this revised draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (draft SGEIS, dSGEIS, or draft Supplement) to satisfy the requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) by studying the new technique and identifying potential new significant adverse impacts for these anticipated operations. Additionally, the Department prepared this draft SGEIS to satisfy the requirements of the SEQRA for the future enactment of revisions or additions to the Departments regulations associated with high-volume hydraulic fracturing. In reviewing and processing permit applications for high-volume hydraulic fracturing in these deep, low-permeability formations, the Department would apply the requirements contained within regulations, along with the final SGEIS and the findings drawn from it, including criteria and conditions for future approvals, in conjunction with the 1992 GEIS.