A Watershed Decision
New York Times - Editorial
29 October 2009
The decision by the Chesapeake Energy Corporation not to drill for
natural gas in New York City’s watershed is a smart and welcome move on
the company’s part, and very good news for the 8.2 million New York
City residents who depend on this environmentally sensitive region for
their drinking water.
The threat has not, however, disappeared. Chesapeake is believed to be
the only leaseholder in the watershed, but its decision is voluntary
and not binding on other oil and gas companies. New York State needs to
adopt regulations that place the watershed permanently off limits,
while imposing the strictest possible safeguards on drilling anywhere
else where drinking water supplies might be affected.
The gas is trapped in shale rock that lies a mile or more underneath
the surface. The process of extracting it, known as hydraulic
fracturing, requires shooting a mix of water, sand and chemicals into
the ground at high pressure. While pending state regulations would
require drillers to take special precautions in the watershed there are
too many points in the process where toxic chemicals could escape into
the water supplies.
Chesapeake decided against drilling there mainly for sound business
reasons. Its plans had already drawn stiff opposition from some New
York politicians. Any accidental contamination would create a huge
environmental and public relations headache.
The company also hasn’t given up all that much. The one million acres
northwest of New York City that comprise the watershed contain less
than one-tenth of the rich deposits of natural gas lodged in the
state’s portion of the Marcellus Shale, a thick subterranean layer of
rock that runs from West Virginia to New York. The company has access
to the rest.
New York State officials, who have eagerly embraced drilling as one
answer to upstate New York’s economic woes, recently issued 800 pages
of proposed regulations to govern drilling in the Marcellus Shale. They
insisted the rules were tough enough to prevent accidents. Now
Chesapeake, an intended beneficiary of these rules, has decided that
whatever the safeguards, it is unwilling to take the risks.
Chesapeake’s decision also undercuts one of Albany’s main fears: that
companies with leases to exploit mineral rights in the watershed would
sue if the state denied them the opportunity to do so. Chesapeake has
decided that it won’t even try to exercise that right. And its chief
executive, Aubrey McClendon, told The Times this week that he didn’t
expect any other company “would dare” to acquire leases in the
watershed. All in all, Albany has no remaining excuse not to declare
the New York City watershed, once and forever, a drill-free zone.