By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau
The Otsego County Board of Representatives will vote Wednesday on a measure to make it more likely that companies will drill for natural gas on county-owned property.
Sponsored by the Public Works Committee, the resolution pledges support for an initiative by some state legislators to revise state law and allow counties to lease land for more than five years.
Current state law limits the term of many county leases to five years, but state Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton; Assemblyman Bill Magee, D-Nelson; and Assemblyman Clifford Crouch, R-Guilford, are working to remove the restriction.
Rep. Greg Relic, R-Unadilla, a member of the county's Public Works Committee, said that passing the resolution does not mean the county will sign leases to allow gas wells to be drilled.
``It would remove a restriction, but it doesn't mean we'll automatically sign a lease,'' he said.
``But I do think we ought to look into it, as a revenue source,'' Relic added. ``I also think we ought to look into having windmills on country land.''
Rep. Marty Stayton, D-Oneonta, said she opposes the measure because she has not been convinced gas drilling can be done safely.
``Given the problems I've read about in Colorado and Texas, I'm not convinced that we should try to facilitate drilling here with the current technology,'' she said.
While most gas-drilling operations will probably be safe, ``it's kind of like the nuclear industry: when you have a problem, it can be really terrible,'' she said.
The gas trapped in shale beneath much of the area will not disappear and could be a boon to future generations as safer ways to remove it are developed, she said.
