NORWICH – Chenango County’s economic development chief said she plans to discuss the potential impact of natural gas discovery on the local economy with officials from Nornew next week.
Chenango Industrial Development Agency Executive Director and Commerce Chenango President Maureen Carpenter told members of the IDA Wednesday that she hoped to determine “whether there are any opportunities or possibilities to extend natural gas lines to businesses ... to reduce their costs, possibly even allowing them to go off of NYSEG (New York State Electric & Gas).” NYSEG is the area’s most prominent provider of natural gas.
Nornew is a leading Appalachian Basin independent natural gas exploration and development company that has been actively purchasing and leasing residential and vacant land for exploration and drilling purposes. The company’s parent, Norse Energy, which is headquartered in Norway, owns 165,000 acres of property that its website claims is within “prime Marcellus” shale under Chenango County.
Nornew has a local office at the Eaton Center in Norwich. It is one of several companies offering contracts to landowners throughout the region. New technology has recently made drilling into the long-known large reserve of natural gas within the Marcellus strata more profitable.
Natural gas exploration and drilling have been ongoing in the towns of Otselic, Smyrna and Preston for about five years. Many wells are producing, however none so far are within the Marcellus.
“Counseling people on their residential leases is not within IDA’s mission statement,” Carpenter said, “but economic development opportunities for business is.”
IDA Chairman Hugh Kearney said, “There’s no question about it. The natural gas industry is going to have a major impact on the area.”
Carpenter said the current contract negotiating process and anticipated property sales have “both pros and cons” on the local economy. “It pits neighbor against neighbor for the best price,” she said, and “it will affect our equalization rate.”
Earlier this week, Chenango County Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Richard B. Decker, R-North Norwich, said the gas industry would “confound” the local assessment process.
“I don’t know what to think,” he said in a phone interview. “How the state will set our equalization rates, I have no idea. The scary part of it is what the state does with (property) sales. Local assessor gives input, but the state looks at sales. It’s more than my brain can get around.”
Kearney said he is worried that towns won’t have the proper ordinances in place to prevent environmental hazards that may become a byproduct of testing and drilling. “Site plan review ordinances will apply to leasing, but it won’t work if companies buy land outright,” he said.
Also this week, members of the Chenango County Planning & Economic Development Committee suggested creating a stand-alone committee that would monitor natural gas industry activity on behalf of municipalities. In the meantime, Chairperson Linda E. Natoli, R-City of Norwich, asked for and received her committee’s approval to appoint the director of the county’s planning and development department as the lead conduit for information.

Railroad update
In other IDA business Wednesday, Commerce Chenango’s Economic Development Director Jennifer Tavares said a feasibility study of the New York Susquehanna & Western Railroad is behind schedule. She said the contracted consultant “had difficulty obtaining the required permits to access railroad property.” The finished report, originally hoped for in July, won’t be prepared for review until August or September.
“It has been a longer process. We thought it would be easier,” she said.
A consultant was paid $30,000 to explore whether to keep the railroad tracks for future economic development, develop them into pedestrian and biking trails, or create a scenic railroad that would link the county to tourist attractions in the Adirondack Mountains.
Tavares said trends point to a 25 percent increase in rail usage in the nation. She said NYS&W Railroad ridership surveys would be taken at tourist events this summer to determine a local need. Carpenter said she would meet with county officials and others involved in economic development once the study is completed. “There will be meetings and public comment opportunities,” she said.
The mission of the IDA is to facilitate a combination of incentives, infrastructure, financing opportunities and services that will create a climate conducive to business development and job growth in Chenango County. The IDA’s balance sheet for the month outlined $5,240 in bills and invoices and $742,530 in capital.
The agency recently spent more than $70,000 to clean up and haul away debris, some of it hazardous, from the Earl B. Clark Business Park in North Norwich. There are seven identified parcels on the 35 acres that are being readied for marketing to potential businesses. The site is not yet served by municipal water and sewer systems, however.
The agency hopes to maintain occupancy and bring in new tenants to Lt. Warren L. Eaton Airport and Business Park, Clark Park and other industrial parks planned in Sherburne and Bainbridge.
“Our biggest problem has been infrastructure, particularly bringing water and sewer down state Route 12,” Kearney said. “We need outside funding to complete that infrastructure passed the Wood’s Corners intersection to Clark Park.”