The future of fracking _ and perhaps our region’s clean water _ will likely be decided in the courts, but perhaps also in the voting booth on Election Day, Nov. 8.
Hydraulic fracturing, when millions of gallons of water, sand and toxic chemicals are pumped underground at high pressure to release natural gas, is unsafe and potentially polluting.
Since it’s clear that the state’s proposed regulations are going to open the vast majority of our region to fracking, it is vitally important to make sure local people have a say in what goes on in their communities.
That’s why Nov. 8 is such an important date in the fight to save our local environment. More than 30 anti-fracking candidates are running for local office in Otsego County, including the county Board of Representatives, various town boards and the Oneonta Common Council.
What’s at stake at the county- and town-government level is the possibility that municipalities could have the power of ``home rule’’ in the battle to keep fracking out of their boundaries. Whether counties and towns actually have the power to control their own environmental fates is a matter the courts will have to decide.
There is a law that gives the state Department of Environmental Conservation ultimate authority on the regulation of oil and gas drilling, except for control of the use of local roads.
However, the DEC was aware of the movement for home rule when it issued its revised draft GEIS on July 1. The revised proposal required Marcellus shale drillers to ``compare the proposed well-pad location to local land-use laws …” Any conflicts would instigate further DEC review before approval of a drilling permit.
The DEC likely also was aware that the state Assembly had passed a bill that would give local drilling bans more weight than the law gives to the DEC regarding the granting of drilling permits. The state Senate has not acted on the bill.
In the meantime, numerous towns, counties and cities across the state have enacted land- and/or road-use laws that effectively bar fracking from occurring. In Otsego County, five towns and the city of Oneonta have done so.
Lawsuits have been filed against two towns that approved land-use changes that would prohibit fracking. Locally, a landowner sued the town of Middlefield, and in Tompkins County, a gas-drilling firm filed suit against the town of Dryden.
Both lawsuits cite the law that gives the DEC exclusive rights to regulate gas and oil drilling. The towns are arguing that they are not trying to control gas drilling, but merely regulating land use, which is a power vested in municipalities.
These legal battles could set a precedent for all the suits that have yet to be filed. But until the matter is decided, it is important for other towns and even counties to proceed with land-use provisions that will prevent fracking within their borders.
And several towns in Otsego County are indeed talking about it.
The best way to push those undecided municipalities to proceed is at the ballot box. Thanks to the efforts of Sustainable Otsego and other groups, those 30-some candidates have filed to run for office Nov. 8 on the SO or other independent anti-fracking ballot lines. Most also will be on major-party lines.
Nicole Camarata, of Concerned Citizens for the Town of Oneonta, said candidates are running in the town who are ``willing to protect the citizens from hydrofracking activities. They will honor the petition signed by over 1,700 residents to ban heavy industrial land uses, including hydrofracking.’’
According to John Kosmer, Sustainable Otsego candidate for county board in the town of Otsego, ``The wave of anti-fracking sentiment demonstrated by petitions and surveys which have culminated in five towns in the county prohibiting fracking for natural gas shows that people turn to local government when all else fails.’’
And it has not been often that so many local candidates have surfaced in unity on an important local issue. It is yet another sign that people are losing faith in government at the state and federal levels and turning to their localities to protect themselves from the infringements of environmental risk.
Question where your candidates for town and county office stand on fracking and the campaign for local bans. Your vote could be one of the most important you’ll ever make in a local election.
Cary Brunswick, of Oneonta, is a freelance writer and editor. He can be reached at brunswick@earthling.net.
Cary Brunswick
Nov. 8 looms large for friends, foes of hydrofracking
- Cary Brunswick
-
-
Some wisdom is best passed down through books
I was visiting a friend out-of-town recently and the subject of providing a "reading list" to young people came up in conversation. He said years ago he had asked a respected acquaintance in Oneonta to compile such a list for his teenage daughter, to help her be better prepared for life, culture, education, politics and people.
-
Let pragmatism, not politics, determine birth control debate
Since I began a career in journalism 35 years ago, a lot has changed in news, style and technology. One aspect of the former I find most irritating is that through the decades what people say is often treated just as newsworthy as events.
-
As Center Street Elementary goes, so goes Center City
The Oneonta school board is considering balancing its budget for next year on the backs of the Center City and its residents, especially parents and young children.
-
U.S. intervention in Syria's uprising would be a gamble
So, what about Syria? That question has been posed for nearly a year now, since the Arab Spring uprisings led to the overthrow of authoritarian regimes in Egypt, Tunisia and eventually Libya.
-
Santorum, Obama both got it wrong on Honduras
In one of the recent GOP presidential debates in Florida, candidate Rick Santorum ripped President Barack Obama for his policies on Latin and Central America in general and Honduras in particular.
- Saturday, January 21, 2012
-
Pumpkin seeds and the problem of China imports
I was shopping at a local supermarket recently and bought some organic pumpkin seeds. Ordinarily, I check over food-product labels but didn't think about it this time, knowing there are so many pumpkins grown not only in upstate New York but also in the nation. The shock I experienced when I got home points to what I believe is the biggest facet of the economic and jobs crisis facing our country.
- Saturday, December 31, 2011
-
Unrest, energy, economy were big news in 2011
Perhaps you've seen The Associated Press list of the Top 10 stories of the past year, based on a polling of about 250 editors and news directors from across the country. It's difficult to argue with the selections, but I would combine some of them and certainly rank them differently.
- Saturday, December 10, 2011
-
Trading freedom for security isn't American
Back in the late 1960s, after the election of President Richard Nixon, one of the common phrases of protesters was that the United States might be the first nation to go fascist by democratic vote.
- Sunday, November 20, 2011
-
Occupy Wall Street protests changed the conversation
During the past week, numerous Occupy Wall Street encampments have been shut down in cities across the country, with police making arrests and sometimes clashing with campers and their supporters.
- Saturday, October 29, 2011
- Saturday, October 8, 2011
-
Fear and frustration fuel the rise of Wall Street protests
What is it those protesters want, anyway? That's what many people are asking as the demonstrations using Wall Street as their evil icon continue to grow and spread, with rallies this weekend expected to be the largest yet.
- Sunday, September 18, 2011
-
Airport funds could be better spent elsewhere
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against private planes and flying, but something's out of whack when the Oneonta airport gets funding of nearly half a million federal dollars while the city's streets are crumbling beneath local motorists.
- Saturday, August 27, 2011
-
Communication is key to keeping neighbors friendly
When I was in college, I lived in a two-bedroom apartment one year with three other students in a residential neighborhood, long before most communities had zoning laws.
- Monday, August 8, 2011
-
Don't let frack proposal go unchallenged
What a frackin' mess.
- Saturday, July 16, 2011
-
Memories will stay on ink, paper
Join me now in the disorder of boxes and paper folders wrenched open after years of abandonment, saturating the air with dust, the floor covered with yellowed paper, some covered with ink, others type. NetSummary
- Saturday, June 25, 2011
-
Grads must discover who they are
High school graduates this weekend are hearing speeches from administrators and their top academic classmates about how important their parents, teachers and friends were as they enter the new paths they've chosen from what life has to offer.
- Saturday, June 4, 2011
-
Some war vets' experiences too harrowing to retell
The Little League season was winding down and it hadn't been a great year for my American Legion team. After practice, my father, the coach, stopped by the Legion for a glass of beer and said I could go in with him. It was June 6.
- Saturday, May 14, 2011
-
Peace, not death, would be cause for celebration
"I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy." _Jessica Dovey, English teacher, after hearing of Osama bin Laden's death
- Saturday, April 23, 2011
-
Nuclear risks as scary now as 32 years ago
A little more than 32 years ago, a small group of homesteaders huddled in a cabin on a Fingers Lakes hilltop on the day a nuclear emergency was declared at the Three Mile Island nuclear-power plant near Harrisburg, Pa.
- Saturday, April 2, 2011
-
'Obama Doctrine' is same tune, different words
I've been witness to the United States intervening both militarily and covertly in the uprisings and civil wars of other countries for half a century, and what's now being termed the Obama Doctrine in Libya doesn't look much different from many of our other forays.
-
