Gas exploration factors into new river basin plan

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DANVILLE - Once the Susquehanna River Basin Commission learned natural gas companies were using massive amounts of water to remove gas from the Marcellus Shale formation in Pennsylvania, it was quick to take measures to protect the region's water resources.

The commission is the regulatory agency that deals with water quantity issues in the river basin region, which encompasses portions of Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland.

The commission sent letters to 23 companies that had been issued drilling permits by the state Department of Environmental Protection, then another 28 companies that had announced their intention to drill, commission Deputy Director Thomas Beauduy said Wednesday during a public hearing on proposed updates to the commission's comprehensive plan.

The letters reminded the companies that they needed commission approval to remove and use large amounts of ground and surface water for hydrofracing, the method by which companies have been able to free natural gas trapped within the shale, Beauduy said.

According to Beauduy, a single hydrofracing operation can consume millions of gallons of water.

The companies were told that continuing to use water without the commission's approval would be a willful violation of the law, he said. The commission ordered one Texas-based gas company to stop operations at two well sites in Lycoming County, he said.

Since then, there has been a "flurry of activity" by companies attempting to gain the commission's approval for water use, he said.

Twelve companies have submitted 55 requests for approval, he said.

"It has curtailed some of the (drilling) activity, but the (gas) industry is rapidly coming up to speed," he said.

Beauduy said he has talked to people in the gas drilling industry who said several thousand wells are planned in the river basin region.

Although oil and gas exploration is not new to the agencies that regulate that activity in Pennsylvania, the new techniques used to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation are new, commissioner Cathleen Myers said.

"Some gas formations have become lucrative and affordable to exploit for the first time," Myers said. "We were unfamiliar with that undertaking. (Hydrofracing) was new to us."

The commission does not want to stop gas exploration, but it wants water resources to be protected while gas resources are being exploited, she said.

The issue with natural gas is one of several reasons why the commission's comprehensive plan, which is used for guiding policy-making and setting goals, needed to be updated, David S. Ladd, a consultant to the commission, said.

The plan has not been updated since 1987, according to Myers.

Some of the issues the plan addresses, such as droughts and floods, have been constant, but new issues have arisen over the last 20 years, Ladd said.

"Energy production on a massive scale is new and consumptive water use has grown in leaps and bounds," he said.

Consumptive use occurs when water is used and not returned to its source. A water bottling operation that bottles and ships water to another location would be considered a consumptive use, Ladd said. Hydrofracing is another type of consumptive use, he said.

Energy production includes natural gas exploration and the construction of hydro-electric plants on the main branch of the Susquehanna River, Ladd said.

Water consumption has increased due to development throughout the river basin, he said.

The plan identifies six categories of river basin needs - water supply, water quality, flooding, ecosystems, the Chesapeake Bay and coordination, cooperation and public information - sets goals to be met regarding those categories and actions needed to meet those goals.

The plan reinforces the commission's dedication to improving health of the Chesapeake Bay, for which the Susquehanna River supplies about half of the fresh water, Ladd said.

The last category deals with the commission's plan to enhance cooperation and communication between agencies, local governments, watershed groups and the general public.

Some of the goals can be achieved quickly, while others could take years, Ladd said, adding that he is optimistic that all goals outlined in the plan can be achieved over the next 15 years.

Myers said updating the plan, which began about a year ago, was "a daunting task."

The Danville hearing, which attracted only a handful of people, is one of three scheduled to gather input about the plan.

Comments gathered at the hearings and in writing to the commission will be used to guide potential changes to the plan, Myers said. The commission will accept written comments about the plan until Aug. 19, she said.

"Public input is absolutely essential to the plan," she said.

The plan, which can be viewed on the commission Web site at www.srbc.net, is expected to be adopted in early December, she said.