The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) has released for comment its draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) for natural gas drilling operations in the Marcellus Shale. The SGEIS looks at the range of potential environmental impacts of shale gas development using large volume hydraulic fracturing and proposes standards and mitigation strategies that may be required of producers applying for related permits.
Comments are due by November 30, 2009. A copy of the draft SGEIS can be found here. A related NYT article can be found here.
[Update: The press is already reporting on the conflicts generated by the SGEIS. See, for example, here (from pressconnects.com). (Moved up.)]