COOPERSTOWN -- Activists out to stop hydrofracking in New York are gearing up for a major Albany lobbying blitz next Monday -- one that will include a push to enact home-rule legislation authored by Sen. James Seward, R-Milford.
Seward's bill, it turns out, has some competition in the form of another piece of legislation whose sponsor says matches Seward's local control goals while going further to erect new barriers to would-be gas drillers in New York.
Sen. Greg Ball, R-Patterson, said his "Property Owners Bill of Rights" legislation is "more comprehensive" than Seward's bill because it would also require the gas industry to disclose all chemicals used and all compounds created from the fracking process. It would also force the industry to pay property owners 150 percent of the market value of real estate contaminated by drilling. It also requires drillers to provide property owners with free medical monitoring for life.
Ball, considered a maverick in the ranks of GOP senators, is also proposing a one-year moratorium on horizontal hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in the state.
Asked if Seward would back a moratorium, the senator's spokesman, Jeff Bishop, said New York already has a "de facto moratorium" on hydrofracking while the state Department of Environmental Conservation wades through public comments on draft drilling regulations.
"His focus is on the home-rule legislation," Bishop said. "He has continued to meet with individuals and groups on all sides of the issue. He is not out to stop natural gas drilling as long as it is found to be safe, if and when the DEC regulations are finalized."
Lou Allstadt of Cooperstown, a retired Mobil Oil Corporation executive and a vocal critic of the draft DEC rules, said he could understand why Seward and others would be hesitant to back a moratorium before the DEC determines whether it's possible to keep fracking from damaging the environment and threatening public health.
But Allstadt, who plans to attend the rally in Albany, also argued that the package of draft drilling regulations is so flawed that "the DEC ought to pull it and start from scratch."
He said Seward's home-rule bill represents a critically important piece of legislation in the event the state permits hydrofracking. Home rule, he said, "is a logical way to let each locality decide what is best for itself on where drilling should or should not take place."
Katherine Nadeau of the anti-fracking group Environmental Advocates was optimistic about the chances of Seward's home-rule bill winning legislative approval this year.
"This bill has a lot of juice (in the Republican-controlled Senate) because it goes back to what do people in the home districts want," she said.
On the other hand, bills calling for a moratorium on gas drilling are "a tough nut to crack," she admitted, citing the clout of Senate Deputy Majority Leader Thomas Libous, R-Broome County, a powerful ally of the gas industry.
John Holko, a board member of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York, dismissed the fracking foes' lobby blitz as a grab for publicity.
"They're always out for publicity because they haven't expressed any facts or information people can sink their teeth into," he said.
"Why can't all these people just sit back and let the experts (at DEC) do their job, and once it all comes out, we can work together for what's best for the state of New York?" Holko said. He said the gas industry has no plans to counter the drilling opponents at the Capitol.
"They don't want to talk," he said. "They just want to yell and rant."
Among the more than dozen sponsors of the statehouse rally is the Cooperstown-based group Otsego 2000. Headlining the list of speakers is actress Debra Winger.
Local News
Fracking foes plan Albany blitz
- Local News
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Judge upholds Dryden gas drilling ban
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Oneonta council OKs hiring of 5 officers
ONEONTA _ The Common Council on Tuesday approved the hiring of five police officers, but not without dissent.
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Woman held at knifepoint
COBLESKILL -- Village police, after a tense standoff, rescued a woman who was being held at knifepoint Sunday night by a 23-year-old local man, authorities said Tuesday.
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Proposed gas pipeline could run through Schoharie, Delaware
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Crime briefs
A Springfield man was sentenced Feb. 15 in Otsego County Court, following a guilty plea last month on a burglary case, court officials said.
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'Land Ethic' documentary to be screened Friday
A free screening open to the public of the documentary film "Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time" will be at 7 p.m. Friday in the Instructional Resource Center on West Dormitory Road at SUNY Oneonta.
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Owner: Softball camp will open again this summer
COOPERSTOWN -- The owner of the Diamond Dreams of Cooperstown softball camp, which has been enmeshed in court battle initiated by its neighbors, said Tuesday he is confident the business will open again this summer despite a recent legal setback.
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Teen receives Eagle Scout rank with ramp project
Nathan Curtin of Sidney Center is certain he would not have attained the rank of Eagle Scout with BSA Troop 99 of Sidney if it had not been for his parents _ and the parents of fellow scouts.
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Water quality meeting set
The Otsego County Water Quality Coordinating Committee meeting scheduled for Thursday will feature presentations by area businesses with expertise in water quality improvement and protection projects, a media release announced Thursday.
- Tuesday, February 21, 2012
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Schumer: Flood relief held up
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Local artist to show Gettysburg images in exhibit
A local artist will share images of Gettysburg in an exhibition at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown starting this spring.
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Court: Town exceeded authority in granting permit to baseball camp
COOPERSTOWN -- A youth baseball camp has been caught off base -- with a state appellate court ruling that officials in a Herkimer County town exceeded their authority when they issued it a building permit.
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Fly Creek man sues over road abandonment
COOPERSTOWN -- A Fly Creek resident who has obtained a building permit for his property off Honey Joe Road in the town of Otsego has initiated a lawsuit against the municipality after local officials declared the street abandoned.
- Monday, February 20, 2012
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Polar Bear Jump leaps to record donations this year
There may have been fewer people than in the past few years taking the ultimate plunge into icy-cold water Saturday during the Goodyear Polar Bear Jump, but more money was raised than ever.
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Teen honored for giving students reality check on tobacco
Samantha Johnson at 17 already has award-winning experience fighting for a cause: Just say no to tobacco and smoking.
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Supermarkets to again support annual food drive
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News Briefs
Internship fair to be Wednesday A new internship coordinator at the State University College at Oneonta in collaboration with Hartwick College will present a "Summer Opportunities Fair" from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Hunt Union Ballroom at SUNY Oneonta.
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Winning regional O.M. teams advance to state competition
Students from across the region met in Sidney Center on Saturday to compete in the Region 13 Odyssey of the Mind tournament.
- Saturday, February 18, 2012
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Area drivers face rising gas prices
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On the Bright Side: Cornell helps area school's project come to fruition
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Judge upholds Dryden gas drilling ban
