Canandaigua, N.Y. -- Student and community environmental groups held a rally at Finger Lakes Community College Wednesday night against a form of natural gas drilling.
The Process
Hydro-fracturing or "hydrofracking" is a drilling technique that blasts water into rock in order to extract natural gas deep beneath the ground.
Hydrofracking has been around for decades in New York State, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation, but a different method that's being discussed for New York has drawn criticism. It's called high-volume horizontal drilling.
The high-volume drilling uses millions of gallons of water, unlike other methods that are approved by the state. The controversy has to do with potential environmental impact of high-volume horizontal drilling which involves chemically treated water.
Concerns
Peter Gamba of the Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes says high-volume horizontal drilling can be damaging.
"In the process of that, they use a lot of chemicals," Gamba said. "The water comes back up, they have no place to put it."
Gamba and others addressed students at Finger Lakes Community College Wednesday night to spread public awareness of the potentially negative impact of the practice.
Ties to the Finger Lakes
In February, Syracuse.com reported that the Chesapeake Energy Corporation applied to store 663 million gallons of waste water from a Pennsylvania in the Southern Tier. The Oklahoma company controls several drilling leases and planned to store that water in Steuben County less than a mile from Keuka Lake.
According to the report, the Oklahoma company abandoned that plan following public opposition, but could re-submit its application. Wednesday night the company said that would not happen.
"We have no intention of re-submitting the application," said Matt Sheppard, a spokesman for Chesapeake Energy. "The well was made unnecessary with the development of our innovative and industry leading Aqua Renew water recycling process. With Aqua Renew, water from all phases of our operations is now being filtered and reused."
On its Website, Chesapeake calls the process a "safe, sophisticated, highly engineered and controlled procedure."
New York State
Spokesman Yancey Roy said the Department of Environmental Conservation has been studying the potential environmental impacts of drilling proposals for the Marcellus Shale formation. There is no timetable for a decision, according to the DEC.
Drilling Elsewhere
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell signed a moratorium Tuesday to end new natural gas drilling in the state's forests.
Rendell cited environmental concerns and impact on the forest industry products.
