Marcellus Shale - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Marcellus Shale
Gas well drilling in the Marcellus Shale

The public comment period on the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (draft SGEIS) for horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing to develop the Marcellus Shale has closed and the Department is currently evaluating the many comments received. Watch this page for updates.
What is the Marcellus Shale?

The boundaries of the Marcellus Shale
formation in NY. Click on the map for
a larger image.

The Marcellus Shale is a black shale formation extending deep underground from Ohio and West Virginia northeast into Pennsylvania and southern New York. Although the Marcellus Shale is exposed at the ground surface in some locations in the northern Finger Lakes area, it is as deep as 7,000 feet or more below the ground surface along the Pennsylvania border in the Delaware River valley. Drilling activity is expected to focus on areas where the Marcellus shale is deeper than 2,000 feet.
How much natural gas is in the Marcellus Shale?

Geologists estimate that the entire Marcellus Shale formation contains between 168 trillion to 516 trillion cubic feet of natural gas throughout its entire extent. It is not yet known how much gas will be commercially recoverable from the Marcellus in New York. To put this into context, New York State uses about 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas a year.
Why all the interest in the Marcellus Shale now?

Although geologists have long known about the natural gas resources of the Marcellus Shale formation, the depth and tightness of the shale made gas exploration and extraction very difficult and expensive. Interest has increased significantly of late due to:

* recent enhancements to gas well development technology, specifically horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing,
* the proximity of high natural gas demand markets in New York, New Jersey and New England and
* the construction of the Millennium Pipeline through the Southern Tier.

Questions have been raised about possible environmental and community impacts. Most concerns are related to water use and management and the composition of the fluids used for fracturing the shale. These are discussed below.

Landowners have been approached by energy and land management companies about leasing their land. Although leasing is not regulated by the Department, information about leasing gas well rights is available on our website.