Governor Cuomo Announces $785 Million in Economic Development Funding Through Regional Councils | Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
December 8, 2011
Enfield residents speak out on hydrofracking_11-30-11
December 1, 2011
Shaleshock Media : Enfield_11-30-11.
1-Intro: Enfield Residents Speak Out on hydrofrackingThursday, December 01, 2011 1:02 AM
Part 1 of 3 Enfield Board Seeks Input on Fracking Ban The Enfield Town Board heard residents’ opinions about enacting a ban on hydrofracking at a public meeting on Thursday, November 30, 2011 at the Enfield Elementary School. Over 200 showed up and 74 spoke. The meeting was called by the board to hear from residents on all sides regarding a ban or moratorium, and related issues such as road and aquifer protection. Only two spoke in opposition to a ban. This follows a November 17th meeting at which attorneys strongly recommended that the Town enact a ban or a moratorium before the State begins issuing drilling permits, perhaps as soon as early in 2012. According to Town attorney Guy Krogh and Community Environmental Defense Council attorney David Slottje, the Town faces both financial and environmental risks if the Board fails to act quickly. A ban would offer time to enact local laws protecting the Town’s highways, to map the aquifer that supplies water to most of the residents, to identify other critical natural areas, and to await the results of numerous scientific studies now underway to investigate health and safety concerns. Once permits are issued, the attorneys warned, the Town could not enact a ban or moratorium without exposure to gas company lawsuits seeking compensation for lost revenues, perhaps totaling millions of dollars. A coalition of Enfield citizens has presented the Town Board with a petition bearing the signatures of nearly 900 residents and landowners urging the Board to ban high volume slickwater hydraulic fracturing. Although 44% of the land in Enfield is under lease to the gas companies, 28 large landowners and leaseholders were among those who signed the petition. At the Board’s last two meetings, numerous residents spoke about potential adverse impacts on agriculture, public health, the environment, and the rural nature of the Town. Currently in New York State 76 municipalities are moving toward or have enacted bans or moratoria. Locally bans are already in place in Danby, Dryden, Ithaca, and Ulysses, and under consideration in Caroline where candidates supporting a ban won resounding victories in the November elections.Media files Shaleshock-1IntroEnfieldResidentsSpeakOutOnHydrofracking368.mp3 (MP3 Format Sound, 2.1 MB) Shaleshock-1IntroEnfieldResidentsSpeakOutOnHydrofracking438.mov (QuickTime Movie, 37.3 MB) Shaleshock-1IntroEnfieldResidentsSpeakOutOnHydrofracking756.mp4 (MP4 Video, 18.9 MB) Shaleshock-1IntroEnfieldResidentsSpeakOutOnHydrofracking882.m4v (MP4 Video, 23.7 MB)2-Speakers 1-30: Enfield Residents Speak Out on hydrofrackingThursday, December 01, 2011 1:20 AM
Part 2 of 3 Enfield Board Seeks Input on Fracking Ban. Video by Cris McConkey. The Enfield Town Board heard residents’ opinions about enacting a ban on hydrofracking at a public meeting on Thursday, November 30, 2011 at the Enfield Elementary School. Over 200 showed up and 74 spoke. The meeting was called by the board to hear from residents on all sides regarding a ban or moratorium, and related issues such as road and aquifer protection. Only two spoke in opposition to a ban. This follows a November 17th meeting at which attorneys strongly recommended that the Town enact a ban or a moratorium before the State begins issuing drilling permits, perhaps as soon as early in 2012. According to Town attorney Guy Krogh and Community Environmental Defense Council attorney David Slottje, the Town faces both financial and environmental risks if the Board fails to act quickly. A ban would offer time to enact local laws protecting the Town’s highways, to map the aquifer that supplies water to most of the residents, to identify other critical natural areas, and to await the results of numerous scientific studies now underway to investigate health and safety concerns. Once permits are issued, the attorneys warned, the Town could not enact a ban or moratorium without exposure to gas company lawsuits seeking compensation for lost revenues, perhaps totaling millions of dollars. A coalition of Enfield citizens has presented the Town Board with a petition bearing the signatures of nearly 900 residents and landowners urging the Board to ban high volume slickwater hydraulic fracturing. Although 44% of the land in Enfield is under lease to the gas companies, 28 large landowners and leaseholders were among those who signed the petition. At the Board’s last two meetings, numerous residents spoke about potential adverse impacts on agriculture, public health, the environment, and the rural nature of the Town. Currently in New York State 76 municipalities are moving toward or have enacted bans or moratoria. Locally bans are already in place in Danby, Dryden, Ithaca, and Ulysses, and under consideration in Caroline where candidates supporting a ban won resounding victories in the November elections.Media files Shaleshock-2Speakers130EnfieldResidentsSpeakOutOnHydrofracking118.mp3 (MP3 Format Sound, 42.6 MB) Shaleshock-2Speakers130EnfieldResidentsSpeakOutOnHydrofracking423.mov (QuickTime Movie, 731 MB) Shaleshock-2Speakers130EnfieldResidentsSpeakOutOnHydrofracking910.mp4 (MP4 Video, 266 MB) Shaleshock-2Speakers130EnfieldResidentsSpeakOutOnHydrofracking455.m4v (MP4 Video, 347 MB)3-Speakers 31-74: Enfield Residents Speak Out on hydrofrackingThursday, December 01, 2011 1:20 AM
Part 1 of 3 Enfield Board Seeks Input on Fracking Ban. Video by Cris McConkey. The Enfield Town Board heard residents’ opinions about enacting a ban on hydrofracking at a public meeting on Thursday, November 30, 2011 at the Enfield Elementary School. Over 200 showed up and 74 spoke. The meeting was called by the board to hear from residents on all sides regarding a ban or moratorium, and related issues such as road and aquifer protection. Only two spoke in opposition to a ban. This follows a November 17th meeting at which attorneys strongly recommended that the Town enact a ban or a moratorium before the State begins issuing drilling permits, perhaps as soon as early in 2012. According to Town attorney Guy Krogh and Community Environmental Defense Council attorney David Slottje, the Town faces both financial and environmental risks if the Board fails to act quickly. A ban would offer time to enact local laws protecting the Town’s highways, to map the aquifer that supplies water to most of the residents, to identify other critical natural areas, and to await the results of numerous scientific studies now underway to investigate health and safety concerns. Once permits are issued, the attorneys warned, the Town could not enact a ban or moratorium without exposure to gas company lawsuits seeking compensation for lost revenues, perhaps totaling millions of dollars. A coalition of Enfield citizens has presented the Town Board with a petition bearing the signatures of nearly 900 residents and landowners urging the Board to ban high volume slickwater hydraulic fracturing. Although 44% of the land in Enfield is under lease to the gas companies, 28 large landowners and leaseholders were among those who signed the petition. At the Board’s last two meetings, numerous residents spoke about potential adverse impacts on agriculture, public health, the environment, and the rural nature of the Town. Currently in New York State 76 municipalities are moving toward or have enacted bans or moratoria. Locally bans are already in place in Danby, Dryden, Ithaca, and Ulysses, and under consideration in Caroline where candidates supporting a ban won resounding victories in the November elections.Media files Shaleshock-3Speakers3174EnfieldResidentsSpeakOutOnHydrofracking731.mp3 (MP3 Format Sound, 44.4 MB) Shaleshock-3Speakers3174EnfieldResidentsSpeakOutOnHydrofracking423.mov (QuickTime Movie, 766 MB) Shaleshock-3Speakers3174EnfieldResidentsSpeakOutOnHydrofracking248.mp4 (MP4 Video, 290 MB) Shaleshock-3Speakers3174EnfieldResidentsSpeakOutOnHydrofracking238.m4v (MP4 Video, 377 MB)
Lebanon Board Adopts 2012 Budget, Authorizes Road Repair Agreement
November 28, 2011
Lebanon Board Adopts 2012 Budget, Authorizes Road Repair Agreement.
The tax rate represents about a 2-percent increase over the 2011 tax rate of $4.266, due to a drop of $2.2 million in assessed valuation tied principally to natural gas production.
Fracking regulations: DEC’s latest script produces high drama at Binghamton Forum | Press & Sun-Bulletin | pressconnects.com
November 18, 2011 1 Comment
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Fracking regulations: DEC’s latest script produces high drama at Binghamton Forum
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The Department of Environmental Conservation holds a hearing on its proposed guidelines for hydraulic fracturing Thursday afternoon at The Forum in downtown Binghamton. / CASEY STAFF/ Staff Photo
BINGHAMTON — It was the perfect setting for the Southern Tier’s longest-running drama.
In Binghamton’s downtown Forum theater Thursday, two hopelessly divided sides took center stage in a region at the crux of New York’s naturalgas drilling debate.
And, predictably, voices were raised and fingers were wiggled when the estimated 1,050 people began voicing their opinions on the state Department of EnvironmentalConservation’s proposed regulations for hydraulic fracturing.
This was the second of four hearings DEC will hold this month to take public comments on its proposed regulations. After the close of the public comment period Dec. 12, the agency is expected to consider relevant feedback as it creates the final draft of the regulations before issuing permits to drill wells as soon as sometime next year.
During the first of two three-hour sessions Thursday, 63 people spoke, divided almost evenly between the two sides of the drilling discussion.
The comments — limited to three minutes each — drew lively reactions from a vocal crowd, which met the speakers with applause, boos, and the wiggling fingers and crossed arms popularized by the Occupy Wall Street protests.
Drilling advocates expressed frustration with DEC’s three-and-a-half year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing. Meanwhile, opponents urged further study.
Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, D-Endwell, the leadoff speaker, expressed concerns about drilling in floodplains. Still, she was one of the few who straddled the fence.
“It’s obvious that many people are frustrated with the pace of the review process,” she said. “Some want to speed it up, some want to slow it down.”
Both sides shared grievances with DEC’s revised draft of the Generic Environmental Impact Statement, a 1,500-page document that lays out the agency’s regulatory groundwork for high-volume, hydraulic fracturing — a technique used to unleash gas trapped deep inside rock formations like the Marcellus Shale.
Sarah Eckel, policy director for Citizens Campaign for theEnvironment, called for a ban on treatment of hydrofracking wastewater in municipal sewage treatment plants.
“There’s no plan for waste disposal for fracking waste in New York,” she said. “We can track it and know where it’s going, but we have no plan.”
Others, like Tioga County resident Ron Dougherty, said onerous environmental restrictions in the SGEIS and a proposed prohibition of drilling on some state lands will push drilling companies and jobs out of the state.
“These barriers go against the New York State energy plan and will deprive New York of a source of long-term reliable energy and long-term tax growth,” Dougherty said.
Advocates of drilling echoed a common refrain: the three-and-a-half year moratorium on hydrofracking in New York has gone on too long.
“These drilling opponents will never be satisfied,” said Julie Scott, a landowner from the Town of Barker. “Their tactic is to delay, delay, delay until it is too late. Please don’t let this happen.”
Not surprisingly, perhaps, those concerned with the state’s movement toward natural gas drilling said the delays are necessary because of perceived inadequacies in the regulatory framework.
Wes Gillingham, program director for Catskill Mountainkeeper, said the SGEIS presents an “erroneous analysis” of the environmental risks of hydraulic fracturing and includes other oversights, including failing to ban the storage of wastewater in open pits.
“This is outrageous,” he said to standing applause. “We want that document thrown out.”
While the crowd was mostly civil, at least four people were escorted out of the theater — two of whom attempted to unfurl a large protest banner, which violated the facility’s rules.
Speakers were urged to focus their statements on the SGEIS, but many comments veered toward appraisals of whether drilling should take place in New York.
“Waste disposal and earthquakes alone are two insurmountable problems,” said Chenango County resident Kim Michaels. “Natural gas drilling in New York needs to be banned.”
“This is a limited time offer,” said John Cuomo, a Tioga County landowner and consultant. “Gas companies will not invest their resources where the regulatory environment is full of requirements and restrictions. Drilling opponents will never be satisfied.”
Comments of elected officials, who were allowed to speak first, took up the initial half-hour of the early hearing.
Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, D-Ithaca, drew cheers for urging the DEC to withdraw the document and referring to the portion of the document dealing with socioeconomic impacts as a “cut-and-paste job from industry press releases.”
A common pro-drilling argument — that gas drilling could be a source of much-needed job growth in the Southern Tier — came from Broome County Legislator Steve Herz.
“I submit that with the good and reasonable regulations that DEC has put together, and the leases the landowners have formulated, the natural gas industry will provide the funding to create what we need,” Herz said.
The public hearing was the second of four that will be held by DEC this month, and the only one in the Southern Tier, a region has drawn strong interest from natural gas companies for its position atop an energy-rich swath of the Marcellus Shale.
The crowd remained equally boisterous in the second three-hour portion of the meeting, but some of the reaction took a different twist.
“Our natural resources that we have here with natural gas have brought our country closer than ever to achieving energy independence,” said Scott Kurkoski, attorney for the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, whose comments elicited a strong reaction from both sides. “It’s time to move forward. Three-and-a-half years is enough.”
Fingers were wiggled at the comments of Brendan Woodruff, hydrofracking campaign organizer for the New York Public Interest Research Group.
“The revised SGEIS does not include an adequate assessment of cumulative impacts, including public heath impacts and proper disposal of the toxic and possibly radioactive wastewater,” Woodruff said. “You have opted to fast-track the process instead of … undertaking a full environmental review.”
GDACC 
