Landowners' group passes hat to help farmer fight gas drilling ban

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June 21, 2012

Landowners' group passes hat to help farmer fight gas drilling ban

By JOE MAHONEY Staff Writer The Daily Star Thu Jun 21, 2012, 03:30 AM EDT

COOPERSTOWN -- Jennifer Huntington, whose lawsuit aimed at toppling the town of Middlefield's gas drilling ban is expected to decide whether municipalities have that home-rule authority, is slated to receive a donation of $5,000 tonight from the Unatego Area Landowners Association.

Huntington, who runs Cooperstown Holstein Corp. in Middlefield, told The Daily Star that she is gratified to be the beneficiary of "a widespread, grassroots effort to support landowner rights."

In mounting the challenge to the Middlefield zoning law enacted last year, she said, "I have not accepted a penny from the gas industry."

She acknowledged that she is receiving pro-bono assistance from the Albany law firm of Thomas West, a gas industry lawyer involved in a similar challenge aimed at knocking out a gas drilling ban by the Tompkins County town of Dryden.

But she said she is paying significant legal bills to her main attorney, Scott Kurkowski of Binghamton. She declined to pinpoint how much the legal action has cost her.

Richard Downey, a representative of the landowners' group, said of Huntington, "She is the point person for all of us, and we have to support her."

Downey said it wouldn't make sense to raise money to assist in the Dryden case because that lawsuit was brought by Anschutz Exploration Corp., whose owner is Philip Anschutz, a multibillionaire.

"Jennifer is not in his league," Downey said.

Downey said $4,400 has been raised so far for Huntington. But he noted more checks are coming, and money will be collected tonight at 7 when his group hosts a forum on the "environmental and economic benefits" of gas drilling in the Unatego High School auditorium.

Huntington's lawsuit has suffered setbacks in the opening rounds of her claim that Middlefield overstepped its authority by zoning out gas drilling. State Supreme Court Justic Donald O. Cerio ruled in February that towns do have the authority to chart their destiny on whether to allow drilling.

The case is headed for the state Appellate Division, and regardless of how that mid-level court rules, both sides have said they expect the Middlefield and Dryden cases will end up in New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, by the end of the year.

Reacting to the landowners' fundraising campaign, Sustainable Otsego founder and moderator Adrian Kuzminski said: "Maybe they should save their money. So far, they are 0-for-3 (a reference to lower courts upholding the Middlefield and Dryden bans, as well as a subsequent unsuccessful attempt by Huntington's attorneys to have new documents admitted in the case). It doesn't appear there is any merit to this suit."

Kuzminski also called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to stand behind the home-rule authority of towns to enact such bans. So far, Cuomo has not taken a position on the more than two dozen municipalities in New York that have banned gas drilling. "These lawsuits wouldn't be necessary if the governor really supported home rule, instead of being evasive about it," Kuzminski said.

Huntington said members of town boards generally do not have the expertise to decide whether to zone out drilling, and argued such questions would be better left with the Department of Environmental Conservation. She also said the makeup of local boards often changes, and bans could be easily lifted when new members are elected.

"Who would start a business if the political winds could shut you down in two or three years?" she asked. She said her plan is to allow conventional gas drilling on her property, not horizontal hydraulic fracturing, the process being evaluated by the DEC.

Asked if she believes hydrofracking will ever come to Otsego County, she said: "Optimistically, within five years. Realistically, within my lifetime."