From: Nicole Dillingham
Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2011 01:21:15 -0500
Subject: Middlefield Meeting was AWESOME!

An amazing achievement for Middlefield Neighbors!

The meeting tonight at Middlefield was educational, inspirational, energetic and ultimately respectful. It was a standing room only crowd..and went on until well after 10 pm..The speakers were excellent..the coalition was extremely ably represented with strong statements from Julie Huntsman, Michelle Kennedy, Larry Bennett, Lang Keith, Ron Bishop, Martha Frey, Lori Solensten, Paula Diperna and  others, each drawing strong applause, We even had the benefit of Bill Streck reading  the Bassett Trustees and Bassett Physicians statements. And Peg Leon's statistics about the number of residents (around 84% opposed to drilling) were staggering. Paula made a very interesting suggestion that the County consider a "tax holiday" for desperate farmers who commit not to drill.

It was a very impressive assembly of  doctors, scientists, professors, lawyers, real estate agents, contractors, and organic farmers all speaking eloquently in opposition to drilling both vertical and horizontal wells and> refusing to accept that local control was compromised..to the contrary speaker after speaker made a clear and strong case for controls at the local level under the existing and updated zoning law.. Of course we also had Orville, Jennifer Huntington, the Kuckenbergers and others speaking of their need for cash and domestic energy..Young Joe Kuckenberger even tried to compare the drilling traffic to school buses and claimed tourism and Ommegang's 4 trucks per day were comparable....(The one person who never said a word was Sam Dubben, who stood through the entire presentation and watched it unfold..no one ever mentioned his presence or his contribution, which was null)....In the end even Scott Kurtwoski (attorney for the leased landowners) seemed a bit shaken by the  power of the many comments. He got off to a bad start threatening to sue the Town while miss-citing the law, as quickly demonstrated by Michelle and Lang. Orville had little new to say, instead trying again to convince everyone that he could be trusted, that he was planning only conventional wells under the 1992 GEIS, and claiming that the technology had been practiced in NYS without incident for a hundred  years...this was vigorously contested by Larry Bennett and Ron Bishop. After this meeting, Orville can have few illusions about persuading this particular town to go> along.

In the end, it was an overwhelming display of determination, intelligence and courage by the forces opposed to gas drilling..Middlefield has so much to be> proud of and so much to teach us. Congratulations to Middlefield's Town Board> (and Planning Board) for submitting these matters for public hearing, and congratulations to Sarah White and her team for all they have accomplished. Next, the matter will be sent to the County Planning Dept for review..County PD will consider  Middlefield's revisions to their zoning law at the March 14 meeting.