Schuyler County Marcellus Shale Risk Assessment- Executive Summary

Executive Summary prepared by Kevin Dowd

This report provides a spatial analysis of the various risks associated with Marcellus Shale well pad placement in Schuyler County. The analysis utilizes a weighted overlay methodology to determine the environmental and community risk of each piece of county land, considering surface, subsurface and proximate features. An
overall risk score is then tabulated by combining the environmental and community risk components.

Excluding wetland acreage, over 60 percent of County land registered as moderate risk. Approximately 5 percent of lands fall into the high risk category. Of note, a large portion of high risk areas are located in the western portion of the County, due to a combination of hydrological features and inadequate infrastructure
access. Conversely, the largest concentrations of low risk areas are located immediately west of Seneca Lake in Reading and Tyrone, due to transportation networks, low population densities, and land use classifications. Using a preliminary survey of parcels encumbered by third party gas leases, the report found similar risk dispersion to the overall County: approximately 30 percent of leased parcels were classified as low risk, 65 percent as moderate risk, and 5 percent as high risk.
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