By Brittany Grove

Sun Staff Writer

bgrove@evesun.com

OXFORD – Oxford resident and disabled veteran James Lobdell lost more than $20,000 of investment money after the bankruptcy and liquidation of the Norse Energy Corporation, USA – a now defunct natural gas-and-oil company. The money lost was to be Lobdell's nest egg for the future.

Norse Energy went bankrupt as a result of the company's fracking production being put on hold by a New York State environmental impact review of high-volume hydraulic fracturing. The company was also forced to liquidate its assets after failing to find responsible bidders to auction off some of their assets.

Governor Cuomo and two of his commissioners – Dr. Nirav Shah of the NYS Department of Health and Dr. Joseph Martens of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation – have been working on an environmental impact statement for five and a half years now, with no end in sight.

“The review was just supposed to be a supplement to the original environmental review drafted by the NYS DEC in 1992. The DEC already does a good job of regulating fracking,” said Steven Palmatier, Chenango County's natural gas consultant.

Tom West, Managing Partner of The West Law Firm, PLLC in Albany, is representing Norse Energy's bankruptcy trustee in a lawsuit against Governor Cuomo and his commissioners for failing to finalize the long overdue Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement.