The Guilderland Town Board unanimously passed a ban on natural gas extraction within the town’s limits at a recent meeting in an attempt to preserve the “health, safety and welfare” of the municipality’s residents.
After a public hearing on Tuesday, July 3, when residents mostly spoke in favor of the proposal to ban natural gas extraction — commonly known as hydraulic fracturing — within the town, a regulation was passed to deny any person, firm or corporation from drilling a natural gas well. Also banned is the exploration, transfer, storage, treatment or disposal of natural gas within the town.
“Guilderland has only a slight amount of land in the Marcellus Shale, but some experts say as technology changes there could be other types of shale deposits which Guilderland does have that could cause other types of fracking here,” said Supervisor Ken Runion in an interview after the meeting.
The Marcellus Shale is a black shale formation deep underground that extends from Ohio and West Virginia northeast into Pennsylvania and New York, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. It supposedly contains up to 516 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Town officials decided to propose a ban on natural gas extraction after members of the town’s Conservation Advisory Council began attending programs on the subject several months ago. The Council then unanimously voted against allowing the practice within the town and gave their recommendation to the supervisor.
In June, the Albany County Legislature voted to place a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing on county owned land for the next two years. Runion said the town welcomed the regulation, but that ban alone left too much land open for natural gas extraction within Guilderland.
“We have a significant area of residents in town who receive their water from wells,” he said. “We need to do whatever we can to protect the water quality in town from any type of pollution. While experts say it is safe, we still don’t know if it is 100 percent safe and I think when dealing with water for residents, we need to know it is 100 percent safe to allow the activity.”
According to the DEC, traditional hydraulic fracturing has been done in New York State since the 1950s, and consists of pumping hundreds of gallons of chemical-filled water and sand down a single well to break up the rock beneath. This allows the trapped gas to flow more readily to the surface. The newer method, often called horizontal hydraulic fracturing, allows for additional well arms to extend from the original well. This uses more water and chemicals but results in more gas.
The town’s new regulation states that natural gas exploration or extraction occurring within the town could “endanger the health, safety and welfare of town residents through the deposit of toxins into the air, soil, water environment, and the bodies of town residents,” so all related activities are prohibited. The regulation is meant to prevent “irreparable harm to the town’s water supply, pollution of the water, soil and air,” and prevent illnesses such as “cancer, lung disease and respiratory disease.”
Most people speaking at the public hearing were in favor of the ban.
John Whemple, chairman of the town’s Conservation Advisory Council, called on the board to protect the town’s “unique natural resources and sensitive environmental areas.”
He said, “Negative impacts of hydrofracking may include increased traffic, noise, vibrations, damage to roadways … damage to and loss of agricultural lands and soils, as well as decreased recreational materials.”
Few people spoke out against the ban, but those who did spoke of a loss of rights for property owners to lease their lands and hypocrisy from residents who reap the benefits of natural gas, but do not want it happening in the area they live, according to Runion.
“Still, it was a unanimous decision by the board,” he said. “Ultimately, (the ban) passed to protect Guilderland residents.”
