OXFORD – The Oxford Town Board considered a moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing Wednesday night, but following comments from about 30 individuals who were evenly split on the subject, councilmen decided to remain neutral and wait for New York’s environmental regulators to release their new well permit rules first.
Oxford joins seven other municipalities in the southern half of Chenango County that have decided against enacting a moratorium on drilling. Governor Cuomo recently implied through media reports that local sentiment and land use ordinances would be a factor in the permitting of shale gas wells once the New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s releases its revised permitting rules. Chenango County is one of five Marcellus Shale-rich counties in the state that the governor has indicated will be permitted first.
The draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, as its called, has been in the works for four years. Weighing in at an estimated 4,000 pages, the final document is expected at the end of the summer. High-volume fracking involves the use of water, sand and chemicals injected deep underground to fracture shale formations and release gas.
The town board, instead, will send a letter to DEC Director Joseph Martens, Cuomo and state representatives requesting that Oxford’s 1973 Land Use Planning regulations be a part of any gas well drilling permits that the DEC issues in the town. It also plans to adopt a road use agreement that has been recommended by Chenango County planners.
“My own personal opinion is that I would rather wait until the SGEIS is complete,” said Supervisor Lawrence Wilcox at the conclusion of the two-hour public comment session. The meeting was held at the Oxford Academy High School auditorium in order to accommodate the approximately 130 people who attended.
The tenor at the meeting was mostly orderly, with each speaker given three minutes at the podium. Possible threats to drinking water and water supplies figured prominently in the comments from those calling for a moratorium. The rights of landowners and the extent to which horizontal fracturing reaches under anti-drillers’ properties were debated.
About half of the speakers, like Denise LaTourette, asked whether a municipality had “the right to strip me of my deeded rights?” Joan Swertfager, who said she had lived in Oxford for 40 years, said, “It should be my decision to do what I want to do with my property. It should not be the decision of anybody else.”
Others, such as Fred Lanfear, said, “If a hazardous business does something with chemicals up the road from me, I think I have a right to choose.” Mina Takahashi, an organic farmer, commended Oxford’s government leaders for combating the controversial NYRI high-voltage power line and for updating its zoning regulations. She said a two-year moratorium would be another “responsible” action the board should take. “Don’t let the state rush us into this,” she said.
Henry Spinella asked those who support the state’s DEC whether they support all state government. “Those agencies, there’s always people behind them with interests and it’s not always the best interests of the people,’ he said.
Stanely McCumber said the chemicals in hydraulic fracturing would increase the number of cancer cases in what they said was already a known cancer cluster in Oxford. “We know those chemicals that are being put in the ground will cause cancer. We have 1 in a 100 cases of cancer right now, do you want to increase that to 10 or 15? Think about it before we sell our grandchildren for the almighty dollar,” said Stanely.
Councilman Jerry Locke took exception to calls for board members who may have a conflict of interest in the subject of drilling to recuse themselves from deciding whether or not to impose a moratorium. “I resent that our integrity is being questioned,” he said. “It is way out of line to suggest this.”
Members of the Central New York Landowners Group took the opportunity to try to assure the audience that its 38-page lease, which would require closed loop drilling and other strict waste water provisions, would address the residents’ concerns for the environment.