The Hon.

Andrew Cuomo
Governor, State of New York
New York State Capitol
Executive Chamber
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Cuomo: April 11, 2011

I write on behalf of the 400 members of the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York and the
more than 4,500 individuals working in the state’s oil and gas industry to ask that you remain
committed to working with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to expedite the
release of the state’s Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS).

Your administration was greeted with a controversy regarding the prospect of expanding natural gas
exploration in the Southern Tier. The industry’s view is this controversy was borne from a combination
of political agendas and misinformation. Indeed, a delegation of opponents is in Albany today to
protest against the mineral extraction technique known as hydraulic fracturing. Their campaign
literature is rife will deliberate inaccuracies, which we have documented on numerous occasions.

State regulators and elected leaders have worked tirelessly to ensure the pending SGEIS is thorough
and will adequately protect the state’s natural resources. The industry strongly believes the new SGEIS
will set the environmental bar even higher than it has been in New York and that lengthy debate will
only serve to deepen the negative economic impact that has occurred.

Nearly three years have gone by since the state essentially halted the permitting of natural gas drilling
in the Marcellus Shale. During that time we have watched people, jobs, businesses and opportunity flee
our state for Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, where those economies are rebounding strongly as
a result of increased natural gas development.

New York cannot afford to allow protests rooted in misinformation to halt this game-changing
economic opportunity. We ask you to charge the DEC to complete its work on the SGEIS prior to July 1
and not engage in a prolonged comment period.

Every day we lose is another lost economic opportunity – another day that neighboring states
experience increases in employment, sales tax, income tax and business growth. New York has a long-
standing and mutually beneficial relationship with the oil and gas industry, and we are absolutely
confident that relationship will continue to flourish as natural gas from the Marcellus Shale is harvested.

According to a 2010 study conducted at Pennsylvania State University, natural gas development will
help create 212,000 non-subsidized jobs over the next decade. Further, researchers associated with the
American Petroleum Institute reference that in 2009, 1,121 wells drilled in Pennsylvania and West

(over)
Virginia yielded a gross regional product of $4.8 billion, $1.7 billion in local state and federal tax revenue
and 57,357 jobs. New York just cannot ignore this impact or turn its back on such opportunity.

Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel known to man – it is a solution to reducing our nation’s carbon
footprint, and it will greatly improve New York’s and America’s energy independence. Our industry is
asking the state to provide an economic opportunity that is balanced by environmental protection, and
to expedite the release of the SGEIS and move swiftly toward a responsible conclusion.

Respectfully submitted,

Brad R. Gill, Executive Director

Independent Gas & Oil Association of NY