Legislation in New York would ban directional drilling under Lake Erie and Lake Ontario starting in January 2003 to protect the environment along the shoreline, but apparently would not impact the proposed Millennium Pipeline project. A spokeswoman for Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, who sponsored the bill (A11506), said the legislation, however, probably would put a stop to National Fuel’s proposed 500 MMcf/d Northwinds Pipeline if the project sticks with its plan for directional drilling.

Stephanie Carter, legislative director for Hoyt, said it was not Hoyt’s intention to block National Fuel’s plans but probably will be an unfortunate consequence. “It bans directional drilling period,” said Carter. “It isn’t aimed at a particular extraction or transportation project, but if they use directional drilling it would probably impact their project. From what I’ve read, Millennium is not a directional drilling project. It is using trenching and burying so our bill would not have an affect on it.”

Carter said Hoyt drew up the bill mainly to extend to New York state the ban existing in other Great Lakes states. Congress voted last year to withhold federal funding and permits for oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes for two years. States in the region, such as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio, are using the two-year window to permanently protect the Great Lakes through state legislation that bans directional drilling. Michigan recently passed legislation and Ohio is in the process if doing the same.

The text of Hoyt’s bill says it “prohibits oil or natural gas drilling operations or pipelines on or beneath the lands under the waters of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, the connecting bays and harbors of such lakes, the connecting waterways of such lakes or along their shorelines; applies to all contracts; includes leases, entered into or renewed on and after Jan. 1, 2003 and does not apply to contracts, including leases, then in force and those entered into before such date.”

The bill states that directional drilling “threatens the Great Lakes, by damaging the unique ecosystem found along the shoreline, adding toxic pollutants to the environment and threatening public health. By prohibiting natural gas drilling, the State of New York would be protecting New York’s largest and most crucial drinking water source. Recreational uses of the Great Lakes will be safer without potentially dangerous pipelines beneath the lake and along the shoreline. A ban on directional drilling under the Lakes will also encourage increased energy efficiency and the development of renewable energy resources.”

National Fuel spokeswoman Julie Coppola Cox said the legislation is poor energy policy for the state and the region, which is seeing sharp demand growth. “It might limit our operations on a day-to-day basis in terms of directional drilling being used for stream or river crossings, to build smaller scale pipeline projects or work on other existing systems. Our read on it was that it could affect bodies of water that feed into the Great Lakes. We view it as overly broad and certainly limiting in how we might be required to run our business.”

She said it will “certainly change National Fuel’s plans for the Northwinds project should it decide to proceed with it.” The company is teaming up with TransCanada PipeLines on Northwinds, which would start at a connection with TransCanada in Kirwall, ON, and extend 215 miles across Lake Erie through a tunnel to landfall near Buffalo and eventually to the Ellisburg-Leidy Hub in Pennsylvania. National Fuel currently is testing the market for the project and has not yet prepared a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Cox said it is ironic that an bill designed to protect the environment would ban a pipeline that is less environmentally intrusive than Millennium, which she said would disrupt Lake Erie’s ecosystem even more by incorporating a large trench and pipeline burial design. The 442-mile Millennium gas pipeline, as proposed, would transport up to 700,000 Dth/d of gas across Lake Erie and New York’s Southern Tier to Consolidated Edison’s distribution system at a connection in Mount Vernon in Westchester County.

“We would see [Millennium] as being much more environmentally intrusive than drilling a tunnel underneath the lake bed,” said Cox, adding the Northwinds’ design would be more costly but have less environmental impact.

Action on the Hoyt legislation, however, isn’t likely in the near future. There currently is no Senate version of the bill. “We haven’t got any signals that it’s going to move right now but we’ll be staying on top of it, obviously.”

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