Some residents in the Town of Jerusalem want to keep waste water from Marcellus Shale natural gas exploration out of their town and off their roads.
The Jerusalem Town Board is asking Yates County to help by looking into the possibility of establishing a county law to restrict transporting waste on county and town roads within the county.
The town is also asking Yates County officials to help coordinate an effort to establish uniform town laws regarding damage done to town highways by trucks involved in the industrial drilling process, including trucks carrying waste water.
Concerns arose last week upon news of an application to develop an underground injection well in the neighboring Town of Pulteney, where waste water from natural gas exploration would be deposited.
The proposal for the injection well is to handle over 180,000 gallons of waste water per day over 10 years. The water, which will contain an unknown mixture of chemicals and perhaps some radioactive material from the shale deposits, will be transported to the well site by tanker trucks.
Jerusalem officials and residents are concerned the route to the well site, located off Steuben County Route 78, will also include Jerusalem town roads.
Retired attorney George Mathewson presented a road preservation law he’s drafted and offered to make some revisions to the town’s 1979 law that prohibits transporting nuclear waste over town roads.
He explained that law can be revised to prohibit the transport of radioactive waste over town roads.
“There’s no question under New York State law that the town boards have the authority to regulate the roads,” said Mathewson.
He said the town could also establish a law to establish a system requiring drillers to put up a bond for road repairs before starting a project. The law could apply to all industrial users, such as wind turbine contractors also, but it would not impact agricultural or municipal use.
Engineer Wayne Ackart suggested that those opposed to the disposal well fight the transport of waste water from one watershed to another.
After the town board agreed to update the 1979 law, they also unanimously agreed to ask the Yates County Legislature to research county-wide regulation of radioactive waste and uniform road damage laws.
Legislative Chairman Taylor Fitch advised the board to put the request in the form of a motion.
Peter Gamba gave a detailed report on the work being done by the Marcellus Shale Task Force that’s been established in Yates County.
Other business on the board’s Jan. 20 meeting included:
