BAINBRIDGE – Plans are under way for a seven county Southern Tier landowners outdoor rally to be held from noon - to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 23 at the Bainbridge Regatta Flats.

Twenty-three coalitions will be represented, according to Oxford Land Group President Bryant LaTourette.

The theme of the rally is ‘Our Land, Our Right, Our Future’ and the purpose is to voice landowners' concerns that gas drilling is being impeded by undue delay at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The NYSDEC is updating the department’s regulations that would permit horizontal hydrofraking in the Marcellus and other shale formations. The update was to have been completed in March, but isn’t expected now until the fall.