DEC Hearing

DEC hosting public hearings on Marcellus draft regulations

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently issued its draft
regulations for high-volume hydraulic fracturing which are based on the proposed
requirements contained in the agency's revised draft Supplemental Generic Environmental
Impact Statement released earlier this month. The documents can be found on the DEC
webpage at http://www.dec.ny.gov/index.html.

The draft regulations create a legal framework for implementing the proposed mitigation
measures in the revised dSGEIS. The public comment period on the draft regulations begins
today and runs concurrently with the public comment period on the dSGEIS, which ends Dec.
12. DEC also released the proposed State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES)
General Permit (GP) for Stormwater Discharges associated with high-volume hydraulic
fracturing. New York Farm Bureau is in the process of reviewing the dSGEIS and
accompanying regulations to assess the documents impacts on agriculture.

DEC will hold four public hearings on the revised draft SGEIS, draft regulations and propose
SPDES GP. Each public hearing will have an afternoon and an evening session from 1 p.m. to
p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., respectively. Comments will be accepted in written and oral format
at the hearings.