Geographic Analysis of Oil and Gas Drilling Rights in Onondaga County, New York

Project Summary

In 2009, the Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation (NOON) requested assistance mapping oil and gas drilling leased in Onondaga County. At the time, there was concern that the ban on hydrofracking in New York State may be lifted, allowing this controversial method of extracting natural gas from shale to occur throughout Central New York. NOON, Native Americans and others in the communityare concerned about hydrofracking’s impact on the environment. NOON and their partners wanted to use GIS maps to generate citizen awareness about the potential contamination of watersheds and aquifers that provide drinking water, wildlife habitat and recreation. Syracuse Community Geography worked with dozens of NOON volunteers to research oil and gas drilling leases in the County Clerk’s Office. Volunteers spent hundreds of hours looking up deeds; there is no central database that contains oil and gas lease information. Tax parcel IDs on the deeds with leases were then mapped. The maps showed heavy concentrations of leases in the Skaneateles Lake watershed, which provides fresh, unfiltered water to the City of Syracuse, as well as the Otisco Lake watershed and the Cortland-Homer Sole Source Aquifer. The maps were distributed widely at public forums, including informational sessions sponsored by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and public viewings of the popular independent film Gas Land”. Anti-fracking groups also distributed the maps to law makers. The Syracuse Post Standard also published the map with stories it ran on hydrofracking.