Oxford anticipates crowd for drilling discussion tonight
OXFORD – In anticipation of a large turnout, Oxford officials have moved tonight’s town board meeting at 7:30 p.m. to the Oxford Academy high school auditorium.
Supervisor Lawrence Wilcox said yesterday he expected approximately 250 people to attend. The number would be a record-breaker for any town board meeting in Chenango County, even with the long and hotly debated subject of hydraulic fracturing. Wilcox, who is also chairman of the Chenango County Board of Supervisors, said comments from individuals representing both sides of the shale gas drilling issue would be heard.
The supervisor estimated 250 attendees based on one individual’s plan to bring 75 people to the meeting. He also said misinformation in The Evening Sun’s article prior to last month’s meeting was to blame. Inaccurate information provided by the Oxford Town Clerk’s office led to an error regarding a moratorium being on the meeting’s agenda. Irving Wesley Hall, a former American History professor at SUNY Morrisville in Norwich and prominent activist in the 1960s, was on the agenda to ask questions about the town’s “responsibilities under the state constitution to regulate or prohibit the various aspects of this industrial process (drilling and hydraulic fracturing).”
Town officials were not prepared for the approximately 30 people who filled the board room July 11. Attendees who wanted to address the board were given an opportunity.
New York put the brakes on permitting the horizontal, hydraulic fracturing process needed to crack shale for gas back in 2008 upon learning of possible water contamination in other states. Gov. Cuomo is expected to lift the moratorium at the end of the summer, and release new and updated permitting regulations. He has indicated that town preferences will be considered in the process of issuing permits, even to the extent of not issuing permits in towns that don’t want gas drilling.
Before learning about the large number anticipated tonight, the board had hoped to schedule a special information session to be led by a moderator. Approximately 85 percent of the town’s land is either leased or in a landowners’ coalition, Wilcox said.
The town has had land use regulations in effect since 1977. According to town of Oxford Planning Board member Kenneth Ryan, all the farm land is classified as “Agricultural” which does not allow commercial use like natural gas without a hearing, special exception and a permit.
Supervisor Lawrence Wilcox said yesterday he expected approximately 250 people to attend. The number would be a record-breaker for any town board meeting in Chenango County, even with the long and hotly debated subject of hydraulic fracturing. Wilcox, who is also chairman of the Chenango County Board of Supervisors, said comments from individuals representing both sides of the shale gas drilling issue would be heard.
The supervisor estimated 250 attendees based on one individual’s plan to bring 75 people to the meeting. He also said misinformation in The Evening Sun’s article prior to last month’s meeting was to blame. Inaccurate information provided by the Oxford Town Clerk’s office led to an error regarding a moratorium being on the meeting’s agenda. Irving Wesley Hall, a former American History professor at SUNY Morrisville in Norwich and prominent activist in the 1960s, was on the agenda to ask questions about the town’s “responsibilities under the state constitution to regulate or prohibit the various aspects of this industrial process (drilling and hydraulic fracturing).”
Town officials were not prepared for the approximately 30 people who filled the board room July 11. Attendees who wanted to address the board were given an opportunity.
New York put the brakes on permitting the horizontal, hydraulic fracturing process needed to crack shale for gas back in 2008 upon learning of possible water contamination in other states. Gov. Cuomo is expected to lift the moratorium at the end of the summer, and release new and updated permitting regulations. He has indicated that town preferences will be considered in the process of issuing permits, even to the extent of not issuing permits in towns that don’t want gas drilling.
Before learning about the large number anticipated tonight, the board had hoped to schedule a special information session to be led by a moderator. Approximately 85 percent of the town’s land is either leased or in a landowners’ coalition, Wilcox said.
The town has had land use regulations in effect since 1977. According to town of Oxford Planning Board member Kenneth Ryan, all the farm land is classified as “Agricultural” which does not allow commercial use like natural gas without a hearing, special exception and a permit.
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