NO landfill expansion – The Petition Site

May 23, 2011 1 Comment

NO landfill expansion – The Petition Site.

  • Target: Cortland County Legislature, Cortland, NY
  • Sponsored by: Lee M

The EPA designated the upper 2/3 of Cortland County, NY, as a critical, sole-source aquifer.  If our water is contaminated, we have NO OTHER water source.  Our legislature is considering expanding the landfill to receive 1 MILLION tons of New York City garbage each year.  Their filth will be trucked in on nearly 200 tractor trailer loads each day – creating noise and additional pollution.  The DEC wants us to accept BUD waste:  oil-laced soil and hydrofracking waste.  Other BUD waste includes PCB-laced soil – will we get that next?  If any of this gets into the water system in McGraw-Solon, it will flow west to Cortland-Homer.  Our drinking water, health, welfare, quality of life, and property values are at stake.  We will be known as the garbage capital of New York.  The stench at Seneca Meadows, a similar landfill, is said to pollute the air with sickening odors 2-3 miles away.  Sign this petition and VOTE NO TO ANY LANDFILL EXPANSION, and call for the immediate removal of any legislator who votes yes.  less

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CS Report of Gas Lease Termination Workshop

May 19, 2011

May 18, 2011

Landowners dispute gas lease extensions

Seminar details tactics energy companies use to extend leases beyond original durations

By CATHERINE WILDE
Staff Reporter
cwilde@cortlandstandard.net
Energy companies are employing more and more tactics to extend expiring natural gas leases, landowners learned at an informational meeting Tuesday.
County Clerk Elizabeth Larkin told a crowd of about 60 that she is rejecting hundreds of lease extension documents gas companies are attempting to file, because they lack the landowners’ signatures.
Whether the sought after extensions are valid, remains to be seen as many landowners are arguing that they do not want their leases extended.
Larkin said she will continue to reject the extensions.
“If you’re going to convey an interest in real property, real property law says that the landowner has to acknowledge the lease, has to sign the lease,” Larkin said.
But the lease extensions continue to flow into the office without the landowners’ signatures.
Larkin was part of a three-member informational panel at the Cortland County Office Building auditorium. Onondaga Nation Lawyer Joe Heath and a Virgil landowner Mike Bosetti, who successfully terminated his lease, also sat on the panel.
Some residents were surprised by what they heard, unaware until the meeting that their gas leases may not simply expire at the end of the term, and may actually provide loopholes where landowners are trapped into leases they wish to end.
One such loophole occurs when residents, seeking to terminate their leases, contact the gas companies and actually open a window for the gas companies to then extend their leases.
According to the state general obligations law, which governs how gas leases are terminated, the landowner must notify all gas companies with an interest in the land, within 30 days after a lease termination date, calling for the lease to end. But doing so opens a 30-day window for the gas company to file an affidavit in the county clerk’s office stating the lease is not terminated.
The news that a lease could be so easily extended by gas companies, came as a surprise to Homer resident Patricia Martinez de la Vega Mansilla.
Mansilla said she is trying to get out of a lease on her property that she recently acquired. Since Mansilla is not the original landowner, she had to contact the gas company with a copy of her deed to show she is the person to contact regarding the lease.
Mansilla has since responded to a “force majeure” letter to contest the company’s claim the lease is extended, but now she worries the lease will not end in December as she hopes.
“I didn’t realize they could file an affidavit with no conditions, to automatically extend the lease,” Mansilla said.
Mansilla will wait until the lease ends at the end of the year and hopes to have a legal opinion by then about whether she should send the letter within the 30-day timeframe.
Heath is awaiting an opinion from the state Attorney General about the best way to end gas leases.
“We are trying to get an opinion from the Attorney General whether it is safe to do nothing when the lease is over, or whether or not they have to take that risk,” Heath said after the meeting.
Heath detailed a list of what he calls fraudulent practices on the part of gas companies that he has brought to the attention of the state Attorney General in an attempt to get laws written that would protect landowners.
Heath pointed to the tactics gas company representatives, known as ‘landmen’, use when trying to get leases signed. For example, landmen will deny that the process of hydraulic fracturing, the method of injecting high quantities of chemically-treated water into the shale to extract gas, can increase the radioactivity of groundwater, even though that has been documented to occur, he said.
Heath also pointed to force majeure letters which the gas companies are sending out to landowners to effectively extend their leases, saying these letters are, in the opinion of many lawyers, not valid.
The force majeure letters contend that the moratorium placed on high volume hydraulic fracturing last year and endorsed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo this year, was a force outside the industry’s control that effectively ceased gas exploration. Therefore, the companies argue for a right to extend leases beyond their agreed upon termination dates.
Most in the audience Tuesday had received such letters.
Binghamton residents Jack and Sonja Stanbro, who own leased land in Cortland County, left Tuesday’s seminar planning to send a reply contesting the force majeure letter they received.
“As far as I’m concerned, we don’t have a lease because they never paid us,” Jack Stanbro said, adding Chesapeake promised him $3,000 an acre before the moratorium went into effect but he was never paid.
The Stanbros said if sending the letter through the proper channels does not end the lease, they may have to seek legal counsel.
Town of Caroline resident Edie Spaulding came to the seminar to learn more about her options for ending a lease. Spaulding said she has received a delay rental check, a check that comes close to the lease termination date that, when cashed, automatically extends the lease.
The sum is considerable, over $4,000, she said.
“Those checks will not be cashed,” Spaulding said, adding she wants “out of” the lease because her property is in the Ithaca watershed.
Heath said landowners must respond to force majeure letters, and he urges people to understand their leases are “complicated legal documents that don’t necessarily end when the date says they do.”
Heath directed people to the website for the local group Gas Drilling Awareness for Cortland County: https://gdacc.wordpress.com, which defines examples of standard lease terminology and also provides sample letters for people to use when responding to gas companies.
Bosetti said he was surprised to hear of so many different issues landowners have been faced with.

http://cortlandstandard.net/articles/05182011n.html

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Scientific Study Links Flammable Drinking Water to Fracking – ProPublica

May 9, 2011

Scientific Study Links Flammable Drinking Water to Fracking – ProPublica.

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Methane Contamination of Drinking Water Accompanying Gas-Well Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing NAS article

May 9, 2011

Methane Contamination of Drinking Water Accompanying Gas-Well Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing -National Academy of Science Publication, May 2011 text

Methane contamination of drinking water accompanying gas-well drilling and hydraulic fracturing. abstract

Scientific Study Links Flammable Drinking Water to Fracking – ProPublica.Article May 2011

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New York Climate Action Council

May 9, 2011

New York Climate Change Advisory Group.

Executive Order No. 24 sets a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in New York State by 80 percent below the levels emitted in 1990 by the year 2050. The Executive Order also created the New York Climate Action Council (CAC) with a directive to prepare a Climate Action Plan. The Climate Action Plan will assess how all economic sectors can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to climate change. The Plan will also identify the extent to which such actions support New York’s goals for a clean energy economy.


Filed under Save the Planet Tagged with ,

Uniform treatment of waste

May 8, 2011

S4616-2011 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S4616

TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to the uniform treatment of waste

PURPOSE:

This bill would require hazardous wastes produced from oil and natural
gas activities to be subject to the requirements for treatment of
hazardous wastes.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill amends section 27-0903 of the Environmental
Conservation Law to add a new section that would classify all waste
resulting from oil or natural gas production activities as hazardous
waste, if such waste meets the definition of hazardous wastes set
forth in the Environmental Conservation Law.

This section also directs the Department of Environmental Conservation
to make all necessary changes to bring its rules and regulations into
compliance.

Section two contains the effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:

Currently, the regulations promulgated by the Department of
Environmental Conservation that govern the waste produced by the oil
and natural gas industries exempt “drilling fluids, produced waters,
and other wastes associated with the exploration, development or
production of crude oil, natural gas or geothermal energy” from being
regulated as hazardous waste. This exemption is in place despite the
fact that the waste resulting from the exploration, development,
extraction and production of crude oil and natural gas may be
hazardous in many instances.

This legislation would supersede that regulation and ensure that when
waste from these operations meets the definition of hazardous waste,
that it be treated in a manner consistent with other hazardous
wastes. Failure to properly classify waste that meets this threshold
could present a real danger to public health and the environment. If
not treated properly, hazardous waste can, among other concerns, lead
to contaminated air, drinking water, soil, and food. There is no compelling reason why waste
produced from oil and natural gas activities that meets the
definition of hazardous waste, should not be subject to the same laws
regarding generation, transportation. treatment, storage and disposal
as other hazardous wastes.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is new legislation.

Filed under Official Actions--Legislation, judgments,regulation, Waste Tagged with , , , , ,

State pension fund invests over $1 billion in gas companies | Star-Gazette | stargazette.com

May 8, 2011

State pension fund invests over $1 billion in gas companies | Star-Gazette | stargazette.com.

Written by
Jon Campbell
jcampbell1@gannett.com

Living Wage

Living Wage figures for Tompkins County as calculated by Alternatives Federal Credit Union.

Expenses 2009 2011

Living Wage $11.11 $11.67

Rent $763 $811

Food $203.25 $203.60

Transportation $167.52 $179.03

Communication $61.49 $59.99

Health Care $143.53 $173.08

Recreation $100 $101.62

Savings $59.81 $60.78

Miscellaneous $111.13 $110.46

ALBANY — The State Comptroller’s Office has invested hundreds of millions of dollars from the state pension fund in natural gas and hydraulic fracturing companies in recent years, a review of the fund’s most recent listings shows.

In all, the $140 billion fund had more than $1 billion invested in more than a dozen energy companies as of March 31, 2010, a review by Gannett’s Albany Bureau shows. That includes $72 million in natural-gas giant ChesapeakeEnergy Corporation and $145 million in Schlumberger Ltd, a company specializing in hydrofracking and oilfield services.

The issue of gas drilling and hydrofracking has divided the state, with some touting the economic and energy benefits associated with the fuel. Others say the extraction process — which involves the injection of millions of gallons of water and chemicals to fracture shale formations — is environmentally destructive and could lead to water contamination.

“The main objective is to make money, so that’s always a primary concern. But (Thomas DiNapoli) has always been very clear in his interest in safety and risk mitigation,” said Ola Fadahunsi, a spokesman for the Comptroller’s Office. “That’s the delicate balance that you always have to (achieve).”

Records show the fund’s investments in several gas companies have risen significantly since 2008, when many of those companies began expanding aggressively after technological advancements made the massive Marcellus formation more accessible. An additional $15 million went to Chesapeake and Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation in that time frame, as well as $30 million to Southwestern Energy Company.

Some of the investments have led to big returns, including Schlumberger. The fund’s 4.2 million shares were worth $296 million as of 2010, after the fund bought $145 million worth of shares over the years.

Roger Downs, a conservation associate for the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, said the investments in fracking and gas companies deserve a second look, saying it could pose a conflict if the state moves ahead with drilling.

High-volume hydrofracking is prohibited in New York as the state reviews its permitting regulations. A second draft of the regulations will be released this summer.

“It’s something that I think we’d like the Comptroller’s Office to look at,” Downs said. “I think if the state is profiting from natural-gas development at the same time that they are looking at potentially new regulations for the industry, there is a bit of conflict of interest.”

A handful of the fund’s largest investments are in energy companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil, which have built their fortune largely in oil but have in recent years acquired companies specializing in shale gas extraction. The fund has invested more than $374 million in Exxon, for example.

Some of the companies receiving pension-fund investments have come under fire for environmental mishaps. Cabot paid more than $400,000 in fines to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and reached a $4.1 million settlement after faulty well construction led to methane seeping into a dozen water wells in Dimock Township, Pa.

Chesapeake made news last month when a blowout in Bradford County, Pa., led to a spill of thousands of gallons of chemical-laced water used in the hydrofracking process.

Both earlier this year and in 2010, DiNapoli was part of a group of investors to file a resolution with several companies involved with shale gas, including Chesapeake, Cabot and Hess. The group asked the companies to detail the environmental impact of their operations, as well as put forth potential policies to reduce emissions and environmental harm.

Most of the companies agreed with the request, while Carrizo Oil & Gas will put the resolution to a shareholder vote next month.

“The development of the Marcellus and other shale gas plays must be done the right way,” DiNapoli said at the time the resolution was filed. “As shareholders, we want these companies to assure us that they have a full and complete appreciation of the liability risk, and that they’re taking steps to mitigate those risks.”

Susan Lerner, executive director of government watchdog group Common Cause New York, agreed with DiNapoli’s action, saying it’s important for pension fund managers to stay on top of the corporations they invest in.

“One of the risks for a company that is involved in mineral extraction is that something goes wrong and the company is held liable, and then the shareholder value decreases,” Lerner said. “If the pension funds are shareholders, then they should behave like capitalists and demand that their investment be protected in whatever way is appropriate.”

Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, D-Ithaca, has been one of the fiercest critics of hydrofracking in the Legislature, but said she trusts the work of the Comptroller’s Office.

“I assume they look at these decisions strictly as investments and keep the politics out of it,” Lifton said.

While the companies’ practices continue to come under intense scrutiny from environmental groups, telling the comptroller not to invest in an industry would be setting a dangerous precedent, said Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton.

“This issue has come up on a number of occasions, and not just as it pertains to fracking, but as it pertains to a whole host of things over the years,” Libous said. “If the comptroller started separating things out into what people agreed or disagreed with, there would be nothing to invest in.”

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Landowners join together to prepare for hydrofracking – Utica, NY – The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York

May 8, 2011 2 Comments

Landowners join together to prepare for hydrofracking – Utica, NY – The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York.

Landowners join together to prepare for hydrofracking

At issue: Properties in Oneida and Madison counties

Featured Business »
By BRYON ACKERMAN
Observer-Dispatch
Posted Apr 21, 2011 @ 06:41 PM
Last update Apr 21, 2011 @ 10:51 PM
Print Comment

Landowners representing more than 10,000 acres in Oneida and Madison counties have formed a partnership with a goal of allowing hydraulic fracturing to safely occur on their property.

Their land includes sections of Oneida County south of Route 5 — property in municipalities such as New Hartford, Paris, Marshall, Sangerfield, Vernon, Vernon Center and Augusta, said Brymer Humphreys, the administrator of the group.

Humphreys, a New Hartford farmer and town Planning Board member, said the landowners in the partnership are in favor of hydraulic fracturing, but they want to contract with a natural gas company that will work with them to address issues such as whether well water would be impacted.

“We believe it’s something that’s going to happen in New York, and we want to have the best control of how it’s done as we can,” Humphreys said of hydrofracking. “We’re concerned about being able to get a reliable company – have some inspections of their proceedings and have them provide outlines as far as what they have to do to protect us as landowners and our neighbors.”

Opponents of hydrofracking, however, say there is no way to guarantee it can be done safely. Issues have been raised with potential effects such as decreased property values, polluted drinking water and damaged roads from the heavy traffic involved with the drilling.

A statewide moratorium on hydrofracking is in place until at least July 1, but the state Department of Environmental Conservation review process will take longer than that to complete, DEC spokesman Michael Bopp said. No hydrofracking permits will be issued in the state until the DEC study process is done, he said.

High-volume, horizontal hydrofracking involves mixing chemicals with millions of gallons of water and pumping the mixture into wells to create fractures in rock formations to allow natural gas to be harvested.

Southern Oneida County is located above part of the Marcellus Shale, a large rock formation under the surface of the earth that has been targeted for hydrofracking in New York and other states such as Pennsylvania.

The part of the county south of Route 5 also is above the Utica Shale, which has the potential for natural gas but has not been tested for hydrofracking, said Jeff Miller, an educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oneida County.

The partnership

The landowners’ group, which is called the Pine Energy Madison and Oneida Partnership, has contracted with a company called Pine Energy Management, which will represent the landowners in negotiations with natural gas drilling companies, Humphreys said.

Most people in the partnership have wells, so they’re concerned too about whether there would be effects on water and the environment, Humphreys said. That’s part of the reason for forming the group, he said.

No natural gas companies have directly approached residents in Oneida County about leases, but landowners – such as those who have signed on with Pine Energy Management – have been talking with go-between people who would help them with signing a lease, Miller said.

By forming a larger group of landowners in Oneida and Madison counties, the partnership will have greater negotiating power with natural gas companies, said Mark Wagner, the co-owner of Pine Energy Management.

The company is based in Colorado and is planning on opening an office in the Oneida-Vernon area, said Wagner, who is a petroleum engineer with 31 years of experience in the industry.

The goal is to allow the industry to move into the area for drilling, but to do so in a way that landowners are comfortable with, Wagner said. The company will help in negotiations, develop drilling plans, make sure concerns such as water and road-use are addressed and provide oversight of the drilling, he said.

“We work at the pleasure of the landowners – not the energy companies,” Wagner said.

Carleton Corey, owner of The Mum Farm on Red Hill Road in New Hartford, has concerns about hydrofracking — including whether water would be impacted.

He’s glad the landowners are working together because if they’re going to allow the practice, they should at least make sure it’s done right, he said.

So much contradictory information exists that he thinks landowners should get their water tested now, so they can measure if there are changes if drilling begins, he said.

“I don’t quite know what to believe,” he said.

Preparing and learning

The town of New Hartford has been looking into the issue of hydrofracking and is in the process of developing legislation for ordinances to regulate the practice, town Supervisor Patrick Tyksinski said.

If the town decides to allow hydrofracking, very strict rules would have to be put in place, he said. Tyksinski would consider instituting a town moratorium on hydrofracking until the issue is further reviewed, he said.

Tyksinski isn’t yet sure whether he is for or against hydrofracking, but he does have concerns about whether the drilling would affect water supplies and the potential for the drills to be abandoned if the practice becomes no longer profitable, he said. Those issues will be considered as the town develops its ordinances, he said.

“We don’t want polluted water up here in the town of New Hartford,” he said. “I don’t think any community does.”

When the state moratorium ends, the focus likely will be on parts of the state south of Oneida County because there are more expansive areas located above the Marcellus Shale, said Miller, of Cornell Cooperative Extension.

“I’m not sure we’re going to be a hotbed for activity, which is a good thing,” Miller said, adding that the county can watch what happens in other locations first. “So that we can learn from them.”

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Rally for a Statewide Ban on Fracking – Albany NY – May 2 on Vimeo

May 5, 2011

Rally for a Statewide Ban on Fracking – Albany NY – May 2 on Vimeo on Vimeo

via Rally for a Statewide Ban on Fracking – Albany NY – May 2 on Vimeo.

Rally for a Statewide Ban on Fracking – Albany NY – May 2
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VeccVideography’s videos
95. Rally for a Statewide Ban on Fracking – Albany NY – May 2
This is a report of the Rally for a Statewide Ban on Fracking. There are excerpts from many speakers including Josh Fox, Senator Avella and many more. Also, there are personal appeals to Governor Cuomo to pass the Ban bill now.
Kudos to Frack Action and all the 60 sponsors for a great event. Let’s have many more!
22 hours ago

69. The Snow Chute

4 months ago

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Take Action to Save State Forests

May 4, 2011

ROUSE

Take Action!

(1) Submit Written Comments on Gas Drilling in Shindagin Hollow and Danby State Forests
(2) Sign ROUSE’s Statement to Ban Hydraulic Fracturing for Shale Gas Statewide
(3) Sign Town of Caroline Petition Asking Town Board to Ban HF within the Town of Caroline
(4) Medical Professionals Sign-On Letter Opposing High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing
(5) Protest DEC’s Sacrificing of Upstate Water in Favor of Syracuse and NYC Watersheds
(6) Sign a Petition to Ban Shale Gas Drilling in New York State

Also check out the Action Steps at these websites:  NYRAD  Toxics Targeting

NOTE: The handouts on key shale gas drilling topics are now “Fact Sheets” on the “Links to Resources” page, under “Basic Gas Drilling Information.” Click here for a direct link.

(1) Submit Comments on DEC’s Forest Management
Plan that Allows Gas Drilling in Shindagin Hollow
and Danby State Forests

This is very important because it affects the future of state forests in our backyards!  Comments at the public hearing were unanimously opposed to allowing HVHF in state forests.  Now we must build on that by submitting written comments.

Please:  submit written comments (by May 14, 2011, see details below—they can be short!!!)

The Bottom Line:
Below is much information on the documents and commenting, all optional. You would be helping this cause to simply say that you don’t want leasing for gas or oil drilling in Shindagin and Danby State Forests (the “Rapid Waters Management Unit”) because you think the other uses of these forests are more important (list some), and mineral extraction will detract from these uses (you can say in what way). Links to sample comments plus a suit against DEC to force it to remove HVHF as an option in state forests are given below—we will be adding to this list as we receive comments and permission to post them.

In this fight, number of commenters on each side counts. The notice went out on landowner coalition listservs, whose members presumably will be commenting in favor of drilling in these forests

Written Comments: (by email or snail mail)
When:       By May 14, 2011 (NOTE: A week later than posted previously)
Where:     To John Clancy
(Senior Forester, Region 7, and principal author of the management plan)
NYSDEC, Division of Lands and Forests
Attn: John Clancy, 1285 Fisher Ave., Cortland, NY 13045-1090

The Details:
The DEC is developing management plans for state forests, and the draft plan for our area, including Shindagin Hollow State Forest and Danby State Forest, allows “exploration and development of oil and natural gas resources within the Unit’s State Forests.”

Last time the DEC came up with a plan to lease Shindagin (in 2006), public comment opposing it convinced them to NOT lease! This time, the stakes are higher, as gas drilling is more likely. If the forests are leased, our area might be more attractive to drilling companies, and more people might be affected by compulsory integration.

We can stop this again if a LOT of people speak out and send in written comments.
Most important is to have many people opposed, rather than a few people writing long, detailed critiques. Comments can be kept short, although it’s certainly ok if they are longer and more detailed.

Note: this is the general plan allowing them to lease; if a particular area is considered for leasing, there will be another public hearing. But, it’s important to stop this now, before it gets to the next stage.

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Suit Against the DEC

On May 3, 2011, The Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition, Inc. (CWCWC) announced that they were suing the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in New York State Supreme Court to declare high-volume hydraulic fracturing in New York State Forests contrary to the New York State Constitution and applicable environmental laws. Click here to see information on the lawsuit.

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Sample Comments:

Sample Comments #1
John Confer

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To see the Draft Management Plan: (the “Rapid Waters DRAFT Unit Management Plan”)

1) Go to the NYS DEC web site http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/72384.html
You can download the Plan in 4 parts from this web site.

2) Go to the Town of Danby web site http://town.danby.ny.us/Documents/RapidWatersMgmtPlan.pdf
The entire document is in one 13.3MB file.

Sections Discussing Gas Leasing/Drilling:
pp. 11-13: Gives an overview of nearby leasing in the past and present, and forest leasing in the future.
pp. 71-73: Objective 3.2: Accept Nominations to Lease Natural Gas Exploration and Development Rights while Protecting Sensitive Areas and Other Management Objectives. Tells how they plan to allow leasing.

Key Gas Drilling Provisions in Plan (pp. 71-73):

(1) Recommends drilling at 1 pad per 320 acres, but does not require this and leaves the door open for more dense drilling in the future.

(2) Sets up a hierarchy of areas within the forests, A, B, C, and D, according to their suitability for drilling. A = most suitable; D = no drilling. It says 56% of the area would be in category D if assessed today, but they don’t actually make any area assessments.

(3) Pipelines will NOT follow the hierarchy, so they could go anywhere DEC decides to allow them.

(4) New roads will be placed “in consideration of the hierarchy,” but at DEC’s discretion.

(5) pp. 119-120 give setbacks for surface disturbance from mineral extraction: 250′ from streams, wetlands, ponds, lakes, seeps, vernal pools (high water line), and recreation trails.

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Info from the last round, in 2006, when leasing was shot down:

►There are insights to be gained by looking at what the Public and DEC said then, and also
you can get many good ideas of what to put in your comments:

The document Response to Public Comments: 2006 State Land Lease Sale discusses the leasing and public input process, and describes and lists the different types of comments made on both sides and responds to them. Definitely worth a skim!

For a few key notes on the 2006 Response to Public Comments document, click here.

For selected excerpts from the 2006 Response to Public Comments document, click here.

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The following are listed as “stewards” of the 2 forests, in the management plan:

AANR Volunteer Stewards State Forest
Bethel Grove Bible Church Shindagin Hollow
Candor Valley Riders Snowmobile Club Shindagin Hollow
Cayuga Trails Club Danby and Shindagin Hollow
Cycle-CNY Shindagin Trail Committee Shindagin Hollow
Finger Lakes Trail Conference Danby and Shindagin Hollow
Friends of Bald Hill Danby
Spencer-Van Etten Snowbmobile Club Danby

If you know someone in one of these groups, please contact them and see if they oppose leasing and are willing to mobilize their group to help protect the forests from drilling.

To protect our local forests, we must come out in force at the April 14th meeting.

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DEC ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE PUBLIC MEETING:

http://www.tcgasmap.org/media/State Forest Leasing DEC Mtg Notice 4-11.pdf

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Comments from Others on the 2010 NYS State Forest Management Plan:
(In late 2010, comments were accepted on this statewide document. Here are comments from Barbara Lifton, the Finger Lakes Land Trust, the Town of Danby, and others, including why gas drilling should not be done in Shindagin and Danby. The same points could be made now. See first item at this link.)

http://www.tcgasmap.org/default.asp?metatags_Action=Find(‘PID’,’49’)#Effects on Forests and Wildlife

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Info on the Impacts of Gas Drilling on Forests and Wildlife:

Effects of Drilling on Wildlife, Forests, and Streams:
The following link is to a new “in press” section of the TCgasmap primer that is not yet on the web. It’s a summary of the most important info on this topic, and contains numerous references. (Ignore underlined links to other sections of the web page for now!)

http://www.tcgasmap.org/media/Wildlife Impacts for State Forest Commenting.pdf

Summaries of articles on how drilling affects wildlife and forests:

http://www.tcgasmap.org/default.asp?metatags_Action=Find(‘PID’,’49’)#Effects on Forests and Wildlife

http://www.tcgasmap.org/default.asp?metatags_Action=Find(‘PID’,’21’)#Effects on Forests and Wildlife

The effects of ground-level ozone (increased by drilling) on trees:
http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_wright_envisci_9/21/5497/1407388.cw/content/index.html
“Through its tissue-damaging effects, ozone also endangers valuable timber stands and fragile wilderness ecosystems. As a component of urban smog, ozone impairs the aesthetics of those systems and creates secondary impacts on urban and wilderness habitats. Such damage is already apparent in urban trees and in parks downwind of major cities around the world.”

Land area affected by each well pad in PA (article summary):
Johnson, Nels. November 15, 2010. “Pennsylvania Energy Impacts Assessment: Report 1: Marcellus Shale Natural Gas and Wind.” http://pa.audubon.org/PDFs/energy_analysis report.pdf
Researchers in PA took aerial photos of 242 well pads in forested areas in the Marcellus shale of Pennsylvania. They digitized the images and measured how much land was cleared for well pads, access roads, pipelines, and water impoundments. They found, on average, that 3.1 acres were cleared for each well pad, and that an additional 5.7 acres were cleared for the associated structures around that well pad (roads, etc.). Then, using well-established research that most edge effects extend at least 330 feet into a forest from the edge, they calculated the additional area disturbed indirectly as 21.2 acres per pad. Thus, each well pad disturbed at least 30 acres! Although Marcellus shale well pads are expected to eventually host 6 to 8 or more wells, these pads only hosted 2 wells, on average, so the disturbance is likely to be much greater in the future. In PA, many drillers are currently developing only a few wells per pad as they rush from pad to pad to establish activity on each lease, which allows them to keep the lease (called held by production) without paying more signing bonuses to landowners or renegotiating terms.

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Excerpts from the 2011 State Forest Management Plan
Covering Shindagin Hollow and Danby State Forest

http://www.tcgasmap.org/media/State Forest Leasing 2011 Rapid Waters Plan Excerpts.pdf

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(2) If you Live in NY State, Sign ROUSE’s Statement:
High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing
should not be Permitted in NY to Extract Shale Gas.

ROUSE (Residents Opposing Unsafe Shale-Gas Extraction) is gathering signatures from all NY residents, and # acres owned from those who own land. The statement will be used to publicly counter the large number of people and acres being tallied by landowner coalitions to push drilling forward. Your name and contact info will be kept confidential upon request at the time of signing.

Click here for more information and a link to signing the statement

Filed under DEC, Leasing Issues, Official Actions--Legislation, judgments,regulation Tagged with , , , , , , ,

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