New York Town Takes Up Fracking Issue : NPR
November 3, 2011
Cortland County Natural Gas Task Force Reviewing New Drilling Rules Last Edited: 2011-10-20 11:23:47 Story ID: 4379Oldies 101.5 – Local News
October 29, 2011
Cortland County Natural Gas Task Force Reviewing New Drilling Rules
Last Edited: 2011-10-20 11:23:47 Story ID: 4379
Cortland Legislators Reject Plan to Allow Outside Waste Last Edited: 2011-10-28 12:34:45 Story ID: 4415
October 29, 2011
Cortland Legislators Reject Plan to Allow Outside Waste
Last Edited: 2011-10-28 12:34:45 Story ID: 4415
Cortland County Not Ready For Hydro-Fracking
August 18, 2011
Cortland County Not Ready For Hydro-Fracking
Last Edited: 2011-08-18 08:20:06 Story ID: 4151
Cortland County health officials say the county is woefully unprepared to handle the impacts of Hydro fracking.
On Tuesday night the county natural gas task force met to talk about the health issues that may arise as a result of increased natural gas drilling activities in New York.
While most of the concerns raised in connection with hydro fracking center around water, including protection of drinking water supplies and managing the waste water that is used in fracking. Local health officials say they are more concerned about impacts on air quality.
Deputy County public health director M.J Uttech says studies from other States including Texas and Colorado have shown residents are much more susceptible to changes in air quality before water becomes an issue, especially children.
Uttech says the county and the region are not equipped to conduct the air monitoring that will be required with the increased natural gas exploration.
Uttech says the county will likely have to add staff to the health department in order to respond to the wave of environmental complaints that will filed related to the gas drilling activities.
Among other health issues raised at the meeting are the expected impacts from the increased number of people that will come into the area as part of the drilling camps. Uttech says this presents a different set of problems including increased crime, new diseases, higher housing costs, and stress to the communities established way of life.
At this point the State is continuing to review the rules governing hydro fracking, the amended rules are expected out next year, when complete the state may begin issuing drilling permits.
Cortland Considers Ordinance to Protect Public Water Supply
August 18, 2011
Cortland Considers Ordinance to Protect Public Water Supply
Last Edited: 2011-08-17 10:52:12 Story ID: 4147
In an effort to protect its water supply the City of Cortland is considering a wellhead protection ordinance that would ban or restrict certain activities within proximity to the City’s water wells.
Last night the City council got its first look at the proposed well head protection ordinance. The proposal calls for new zoning laws to be adopted to further restrict and monitor development and other activities near the City water supply.
According to Pat Reidy a water quality specialist with the County Soil and Water department, the proposed legislation is modeled after a similar program that was adopted in Cortlandville; it maps out the most critical areas in the water supply and looks to prevent pollution from impacting those areas.
Reidy says while Cortlandville has adopted regulations that protect a portion of the water supply that feeds the City wells, water does not know municipal boundaries and the City would do well adopt its own regulations.
The new rules would not significantly impact development in the City as most of the are that would fall into the new well head protection zone is in established neighborhoods, however a large portion of Suny Cortland’s campus would fall into the new zone including Davis Field where the college has proposed to construct a 52 million dollar Student Life center. The site is directly adjacent to the City water wells.
The City will hold a public hearing on the proposed law on September 6th.
Cortland Environmental Committe Urges Ban on Drilling Waste Water
August 18, 2011
Cortland Environmental Committe Urges Ban on Drilling Waste Water
Last Edited: 2011-08-17 11:09:30 Story ID: 4149
Cortland City lawmakers are considering a local law that would ban the City from accepting waste by products from natural gas drilling operations at the City’s wastewater treatment plant.
Last night the City council discussed a proposal form the City’s environmental advisory committee that would prohibit the wastewater from drilling at the treatment plant.
Frank Kelley of the Environmental committee says there are concerns over the facilities ability to treat the various chemicals and compounds that may be in the drilling waste, as well as the impact the discharge may have on the Tioughnioga river.
Members of the committee suggested that the law should be expanded to cover all waste including pretreated waste water from drilling, but City Waste Water plant operator Bruce Adams said he would refuse any material he didn’t feel was acceptable at the plant and the council should leave some flexibility in the law.
The law is subject to a public hearing on September 6th, the council would then have to vote on the measure.
Cortland I-D-A Looking to Fill Former Buckbee Mears Plant
July 24, 2011
Cortland I-D-A Looking to Fill Former Buckbee Mears Plant
Karl Klein — op.ed
July 12, 2011
Karl Klein
4648 N Tower Rd.
Cincinnatus, NY 13040
Editor, Cortland Standard
Cortland, NY 13045
July 12, 2011
Dear Editor –
I am writing in response to the article about the disappointed landowners in regards to the DEC release of the draft hydrofracking standards.
I sympathize with the landowners who feel that their rights to their property have been violated. Private property rights are an important part of our society. Most of us don’t like being told what we can, or cannot do, with our property. However, I would like to ask your readers to consider the same private property rights issue from a different perspective.
When NYS passed the Compulsory Integration aspect of the existing gas extraction rules, they effectively violated my right to control the mineral rights under my property. When enough landowners in any given area sell their mineral rights (in this gas – natural gas), the industry is free to tunnel under my property using horizontal drilling and take my gas. It doesn’t matter if I want to sell this legacy now (with record low prices for natural gas) or want to wait till the price rises – which it surely will. Or, if I simply prefer to leave this legacy to my heirs, the law makes it impossible for me to protect my property.
The landowners cited in the article will have, in effect, (with today’s low prices) forced me to put my well water at risk and also potentially required me to put up with the hundreds, if not thousands, of massive trucks, tankers, earthmovers, and compressor stations that will be needed to extract and export the “fracked” gas from our rural area. Make no mistake, hydraulic fracturing is an industrial process. It is not the relatively benign operation used in the old gas wells that already dot the landscape.
Even though many landowners claim to be the aggrieved parties, most of them have received some money (in some cases thousands and thousands of dollars) – even though no drilling has yet taken place. So, it is really hard for me to feel very sorry for them having received this “free money.” To me, living in rural Cortland County is about the lifestyle, peace and quiet, and clean air and water. These things are far more important to me than the money I might get from a questionable gas extraction industrial operation. In this case, I believe my right to these things trumps the rights of my neighbors enable the burrowing under my land to take my property.
In educating myself on this issue, there seem to be a great many questions about the overall safety of the fracking industrial process. I think perhaps it CAN be done safely, but the record of the gas industry shows that it doesn’t always do so. Until they show that they can, let’s just put this process on hold and leave the gas where it is. They cover up their mistakes by settling with injured parties and requiring them to sign non-disclosure agreements that keep their errors and mistakes quiet and not part of the public record.
Let’s not risk what have right now for what might possibly be a short-term bonanza (which includes the arrival of out-of-state “roughnecks”, associated increased demands for social services, law enforcement, decreased real estate values, road damage, and air and water pollution).
Respectfully submitted,
Karl Klein
Solon, NY
GDACC 
