NEW BERLIN – An otherwise civil gathering of about 600 members of the Central New York Landowners Coalition at Unadilla Valley Central School Saturday turned ugly as protesters erected ‘no frak’ signs out in front of the school, took photos of cars and, later, defamed a coalition’s leader’s ‘Pass Responsible Gas Drilling’ banner located on the lawn of his Route 8 home.
CNYLC Steering Committee member Steve Gage said the perpetrators were taking photos of business decals on automobiles so people also opposed to drilling would know not to patronize those businesses. He said he called the police to his home to investigate his banner which had a swastika painted on it in red along with a racial slur.
The three-year-old group’s president Brian Conover commented, “You don’t see pro-gas people stealing signs or experiencing this type of vandalism, intimidation and threats.”
The events took place just a couple of days after a fire at a Cabot Oil and Gas storage facility over the border in Susquehanna County was ruled arson. Officials there also blamed the anti-gas drilling community. Shale drilling is ongoing in Pennsylvania, unlike in New York.
Tensions are heating up as both sides of the hydraulic fracturing debate await New York’s expected issuance of the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement. Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens said last week that the DEC is taking its time with the study to make sure all the issues surrounding the natural gas drilling process are carefully considered. Martens said he expects a draft of the report to be finished this summer, with another public comment period to follow.
CNYLC Attorney Scott Kurkoski told the group that he anticipated at least a 30-day comment period after release of the updated regs, but warned that would only occur if the DEC limits comments to the actual changes in the now 1,300 page permitting document. The changes surround high water volume hydraulic fracturing, which includes everything from how to deal with waste water from the process to an increase of traffic in rural areas.
The CNYLC represents about 200,000 acres in primarily Chenango and Otsego counties. Members were updated on their lease negotiations with natural gas companies as well as the timing of the state’s issuance of drilling permits.
The audience applauded when Kurkoski said how important it was for oil and gas companies to know that New York is a place to do business.
“Let’s get permitting issued in 2011 and let companies know that, yes, New York is a place where we can do business. This is moving forward in New York and everybody in government knows it,” he said.
Kurkoski, Conover and the coalition’s Vice President Bryant LaTourette reminded members to stick together and to attend their town’s board meetings in order to oppose any zoning or road use laws that might impede industries’ interest in the group’s acreage.
Conover pointed to a map of acreage within the coalition and land already leased to natural gas companies. “Looking at the map of our holdings and their’s (Norse Energy and other companies’), the majority of the county has resoundingly spoken in favor of gas drilling,” he said.