2011 Marcellus Shale News Compilation

A group of local residents concerned about natural gas drilling issues will gather next week to raise their voices at city hall in Auburn.

The Cayuga Anti-Fracking Alliance is organizing a rally planned for 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 2 to publically call on the Auburn City Council to ban the acceptance of any water at the city’s sewage treatment plant that comes from natural gas exploration. The plant is one of the only remaining public plants in the state to accept natural gas well water.

Cayuga County residents rally to stop what they think is a controversial practice by the City of Auburn. Right now, the city accepts and treats wastewater from gas drilling operations, the treated water is then released into the Owasco River. As our Katie Gibas reports, protestors say they're concerned about what effects the byproduct will have on their watersheds.

AUBURN – The debate over natural gas well water at the city sewage plant continued as residents, city officials and the natural gas industry sounded off on the issue.

Multiple industry professionals discussed the drilling, permitting and testing process during Thursday’s city council meeting, asking councilors to consider what they said is all the data before deciding whether to stop processing well water at the plant.

At the same meeting, area residents continued asking the city to stop taking the water, which they say is an environmental hazard.

ALBANY -- In a surprise move Thursday, the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued a long-awaited summary of major, sweeping changes to its ongoing review of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, a day before a full 900-page report is due to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The new recommendations include an outright ban of high-volume hydrofracking in the Syracuse and New York City watersheds and also would prohibit drilling on the surface of state-owned land. That stipulation could have a significant impact on one of the largest of the Southern Tier's landowner coalitions.