1) Building a well pad and drilling and fracturing wells is a truck-intensive process. All of the equipment, personnel, proppant (sand and other silica or ceramic pieces of various sizes injected into the well to hold open the fractures after the pressure from the fluid has diminished), and chemicals must be transported to the site by truck, and in the early stages of development in the region, all of the water needed to fracture the well usually must be transported by truck as well. As
development progresses, some of the water may be transported to well pads via pipeline, reducing the number of truck trips required. All of the equipment and the waste fluids must also be transported away from the well pad. The NY DEC reports, based on Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York (IOGA) estimates, that 1,979 round trips would be required at an average well in the early stages of development in the region. As development ramps up and pipelines are put in place for water, this number decreases by about 29%, to 1,420 round trips.Additionally, the second and subsequent wells on any pad will require somewhat fewer truck trips, as some of the equipment will already be there.