Tioga County Farm Bureau President Kevin ‘Cub’ Frisbie announced that a new group of farmers in Tioga County are applying for a permit to use gelled propane to extract gas from their land during a special press conference in Barton, N.Y. on July 8. (Photo by Rick Stilson)
A group of five farmers in Tioga County have decided to test the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (NYS DEC) standing on gas drilling in the Empire State. The December ruling from the DEC nixed hydraulic fracturing in New York, but did not exclude another technique.
“By excluding gelled propane technology from the ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has affirmed it’s earlier stance that gelled propane technology, combined with horizontal drilling techniques, is considered to be a more environmentally friendly approach to natural gas collection,” Tioga County Farm Bureau President Kevin Frisbie said.
This is the first application to the DEC for gelled propane fracturing in New York State, Frisbie added.
A site has been selected in Halsey Valley, a crossroads hamlet in Northeast Tioga County, to see if the DEC will allow the alternate technique to water-based fracturing. Ernst Snyder, namesake of the Snyder Group, owns the land. Snyder said he bought the 53-acre farm about 20 years ago, moving to Tioga County from his native New Jersey.
Snyder said that if their permit is approved, about three and a half acres of his land will be used to set up the well, and that only a half-acre pad will remain when the well is functional.
If the DEC authorizes the use the gelled propane technique, already used on over 800 wells across the United States according to Frisbie, it would be something that Snyder thinks will be a positive development for the more than five farm families that joined him in the Snyder Group.
“It’s a safer technique,” Snyder said of gelled propane fracking, “in my opinion it will help everybody. It will be better for Barton, better for Tioga County, and eventually, the entire Southern Tier.” Snyder said jobs will be created in many ways from the potential money generated from new drilling, not just from the well construction but in home improvements, more money for farmers to maintain their equipment, and a lower tax burden.
“The oil and gas law in New York is very specific in how gas production is taxed,” Adam Schultz said. Schultz is a lawyer retained by Tioga Energy Partners, which supports landowner’s rights to extract the mineral resources beneath their property. “Taxes from gas production don’t go to Albany, they stay local,” Schultz added.
In Western New York, Schultz said there are more wells already operating. As a result, the tax burden is lower on property owners, especially school taxes, according to Schultz, while the districts aren’t struggling either.
Frisbie said local governments would reap the benefits of gas production, should the permit be approved. “It will make the area flourish, there’s no doubt in my mind,” Frisbie said.
Assemblyman Christopher Friend came to the Barton news conference to speak in support of the Snyder Group’s permit request. Friend said that property owners in the Southern Tier are currently unable to reap the benefits of the mineral riches beneath their property.
Friend went on to say that natural gas is often associated with heating homes and cooking, and less so with powering vehicles. However, Friend said that natural gas is also being utilized for other purposes, including ‘cracking’ it to make ingredients for fertilizer, plastics, and other products. Friend pointed to a new gas cracking plant being built in Pennsylvania that’s expected to hire 4,000 workers, and said New Yorkers should be allowed to put their own people to work in gas extraction related jobs.
“I urge the DEC to finalize their decision, and allow people to use the property they own,” Friend said.
The land being proposed for the new drilling technique is located off of Poole Road in Halsey Valley. If the permit to drill and use gelled propane to extract the gas is approved, a well will be drilled 9,530 feet into the Utica shale level, according to Frisbie. Following testing, horizontal drilling will be done at a level of 4,400 feet below the surface for fracking, Frisbie said.
