so when do we find out , page-48

more info. Well operators reported 6,732 producing natural gas wells in New York in 2010, approximately half of which (3,358) are in Chautauqua County. With 1,056 square miles of land in Chautauqua County, 3,358 reported producing wells equates to at least three producing wells per square mile. For the most part, these wells are at separate surface locations. Actual drilled density where the resource has been developed is somewhat greater than that, because not every well drilled is currently producing and some areas are not drilled. The Department issued 5,490 permits to drill in Chautauqua County between 1962 and June 30, 2011, or five permits per square mile. Of those permits, 62% (3,396) were issued during a 10-year period between 1975 and 1984, for an average rate of 340 permits per year in a single county. Again, most of these wells were drilled at separate surface locations, each with its own access road and attendant disturbance. Although the number of wells is lower, parts of Seneca and Cayuga County have also been densely drilled. Many areas in all three counties – Chautauqua, Seneca and Cayuga – have been developed with “conventional” gas wells on 40-acre spacing (i.e., 16 wells per square mile, at separate surface locations).

The SGEIS also says 90% of New York’s gas well have been fractured and provides the following map of natural gas development activity in Chautauqua County:


Chautauqua County Vertical Gas Wells

Remember, these are vertical wells at a spacing far more dense than anything proposed in the Marcellus Shale and, of course, the wells are located in the middle of vineyards and other farm fields so they are hardly noticeable on the ground. Nonetheless, one can quickly see this area, which surrounds Chautauqua Lake, the drinking water source for Jamestown, New York, is heavily developed with fracturing everywhere and, yet, there is no pollution. Marcellus Shale development will be far less intrusive with far fewer holes punched through groundwater aquifers and, therefore, even less chance of problems.