http://thedailystar.com/localnews/x2002721207/Local-town-looks-to-decide-gas-drilling-fate

Local town looks to decide gas drilling fate 
By Tom Grace  
Cooperstown News Bureau, The Daily Star
Sat Mar 12, 2011, 02:30 AM EST 

Can a town in New York state ban gas drilling and hydraulic fracturingwithin its borders?

Middlefield, one of three towns in Otsego County that ring Otsego Lake, is set to try. The other two, Springfield and Otsego, are not far behind.

The Middlefield Town Board held a public hearing Tuesday night on changes toits master plan and zoning ordinance to expressly ban drilling and fracking-- the shattering of shale underground with pressurized water, sand and chemicals.

Neal Newman, acting co-chairman of Middlefield's planning board, said town officials believe their zoning law prohibits heavy industry, banning drilling and fracking. But the tightened-up regulation, slated to be adopted as a local law at the town board's April 12 meeting, is meant to leave no loopholes.

After Tuesday's packed public hearings at the Middlefield town offices, it seems there is little doubt that most town residents support a ban.

Although a few farmers, a lawyer and Gastem USA President Orville Cole presented the case for gas drilling, they appeared to be the minority compared to the opposition, which included Bassett Healthcare President Dr.William Streck.

Pro-Drilling
Cole, whose firm controls leases on more than 30,000 acres in Otsego County,had a rough start Tuesday. 

The town board had scheduled separate public hearings on the master plan --a generalized statement of municipal goals -- and changes to the zoning law.Cole rose early in the crowded room to address the master plan and was advised that his comments should be reserved for zoning law changes.

When he made his way back to the microphone, perhaps an hour later, he followed an ovation for Streck, who'd announced that Bassett's board of trustees and medical staff had issued public warnings about fracking.

Cole began with, "I don't suppose I'm in line for as much applause tonight," and he wasn't, as he told the standing-room-only crowd that he heard their concerns, "but there is a good bit of misinformation in this exchange."

Gastem -- which is based in Quebec, where a moratorium on fracking was recently declared -- intends only to "develop conventional gas in this area," rather than drill horizontal wells that require far more water for fracking.

"We ask for recognition of the 1992 GEIS (generic environmental impact statement)," Cole told Supervisor David Bliss and town board members.

Under these regulations, firms are allowed to drill vertical gas wells as long as they have permits issued by the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Although the state is revising rules for horizontal wells, regulations permit vertical wells, he noted.

Farmer Ruth Kukenberger of Beaver Meadow Road said she believes leaseholders, who need drilling royalties to keep their farms afloat, are being picked on by others. "And I think we're being bullied by the town board," she said.

Later, her husband, Frank Kukenberger, noted that farmers rarely have it easy, and if gas drilling is scuttled, it would be only the latest broken promise.

"Who's there to help the farmer? No one," he said. "My tax dollar goes to other people's retirement, but I don't get any retirement."

Farmer Jennifer Huntington said, "On our farm, we used BT technology (genetic engineering), and I feel gas drilling is the next logical step."

Scott Kurkowski of Binghamton, attorney for the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York State, said he represents 14 leaseholders in Middlefield who are likely to sue if their right to have a gas well is canceled by the town.

"You do not have the authority to do this," he told council members, citing Environmental Conservation laws. "Those are issues to be addressed in Albany, and your obligation is to uphold state law."

Kurkowski said he represented "third-generation dairy farmers, and we're going to do what is necessary to protect their rights."

After the meeting, Kurkowski said, "That was the most anti-drilling crowd I ever saw, and I've been to a few meetings."

He also noted the opposition was very upscale. "Where else would they have to interrupt a meeting to say a Jaguar is blocking the driveway?" he asked.

Anti-Drilling
After Kurkowski warned that lease holders will likely sue, Cooperstown lawyer Michelle Kennedy said he was selective in citing laws and precedents, then cited opinions and precedents that indicate zoning laws can protect municipalities from industry and mining without conflicting with state regulations.

"Fourteen members of our community are now being asked to fight the gas companies' fight," she said.

Peggy Leon of Middlefield said she had taken a poll of the town and found overwhelming support for banning drilling and fracking. "Fourteen landowners are threatening to sue, and 1,188 are standing behind the town board," she said.

Dr. John Davis asked the board to "follow the precautionary principle. Prohibit, not regulate, vertical and horizontal gas drilling."

Organic farmer Siobhan Griffin told the board: "I own an 80-cow dairy farm in Westville and have farmed here 14 years. For the past three, I have invested more than $100,000 in a cheese business. I sell the cheese, along with pork and beef, at the farmers' market in Cooperstown, but people in Brooklyn buy most of it."

Griffin gave the board a statement from the Park Slope Food Cooperative that includes the request: "Please insure that we are not wondering whether the grass-fed cows we buy are drinking contaminated water and breathing air fouled by numerous enormous trucks that will support the hydrofracking process . ."

If drilling and fracking come to Middlefield, she will be forced out of business, Griffin said.

Ronald Bishop, a biochemist who teaches at State University College at Oneonta, said he has been studying state regulation of gas drilling and found a patchwork of laws and spotty records about the state's thousands of wells.

If the state allows widespread horizontal drilling, he said the rules are likely to be "diffuse and incoherent . and taxpayers will subsidize the plugging of abandoned wells for at least 280 years."

George Hovis of Murphy Hill Road said: "We live in a democracy, and it seems abundantly clear that a majority doesn't want gas drilling.

 
"The attorney says we don't have the right to say no, but if we don't standup in the local community, how can we expect those in Albany to stand up?"he asked, to cheers from the audience.

Realtor Kelly Branigan said horizontal gas drilling has hurt property values in Pennsylvania without doing much to spur the economy.

"Trucks drivers and others have gotten jobs, but the negative effects are tremendous."

Karen Johannesen said her husband, Norman Johannesen, recently built a house for sale in the town, hoping to fund his retirement, but the likelihood ofdrilling nearby has turned off prospective buyers.

"People don't want to live near a gas well," she said.

Dr. Amy Freeth, an endocrinologist at Bassett, said: "I fear for everyone's health. . These chemicals in fracking fluids are endocrine disruptors and they cause cancer. They have a small threshold and if we put tons of them into our environment, our children's health will be at great risk."

Dr. Julie Huntsman of Otsego said she empathized with farmers, "but fracking is not farming."

Someone then chimed in that she knew farmers were hurting "But don't make the cure worse than the disease."

County review, the court?

Middlefield's proposed legal changes will be reviewed by the county planning board at a meeting to begin at 6 p.m. Monday in the Emergency Operations Center, county office building, Cooperstown.

County Planner Psalm Wyckoff said Thursday that the board is charged with evaluating the "countywide and intermunicipal impacts" of the town's legislation.

After that advisory review, the law will return to Middlefield, where it could be adopted next month, Newman said.

Both Kennedy and Kurkowski said they expect laws banning gas drilling to be challenged in court as lease holders argue that local laws must not conflict with state regulations, and towns argue that home rule and precedent allow them to protect their residents.

Asked Thursday which side is right, DEC spokesman Michael Bopp said: "That's undetermined. There are localities that have bans in place, and they've not been tested."

Wyckoff noted that Otsego County may be at the epicenter of the coming legal battle.

"We may set precedent for the state right here."