A form letter from a NY landowner coalition group is making its way around the internet.
I have written a response, and the form letter follows. The letter to Governor Paterson is being disseminated by this local landowner coalition group which accuses an un-identified “anti-drilling crowd” of impeding the progress of unconventional gas drilling in New York State. The landowners further accuse the “anti-drilling crowd” of “misinformation”, “fear-mongering” and “fabricating ‘facts’”.
As someone who has been gathering facts about unconventional gas drilling, I have attended many informational meetings related to drilling with speakers including representatives from the State Assembly, the State Senate, the US Congress, the NYS Attorney General’s Office, Farm Bureau, CCE, USGS, Soil and Water, SRBC, DEC and other agencies. Not once in all these meetings did any representative of these disparate agencies use the terms “misinformation” or “fear- mongering” when speaking of public concerns.
On the contrary, the Attorney General’s Office representatives warned landowners against signing bad leases and advised they should report to them any inappropriate behavior in their dealings with landmen. The USGS geologist who spoke here in Ithaca clearly relayed numerous concerns related to wastewater treatment and disposal. Many town and county representatives spoke of the need for plans to prepare for gas drilling to ensure the health and safety of citizens. One does not need to “fabricate” facts. The facts speak for themselves. High volumes of water and chemicals are needed to frack one well. There are expected to be tens of thousands of wells in NYS in the next few years. We do not have enough facilities to process the wastewater. From Dish, TX, to Dimock, PA, there have been problems. Real problems, not fabricated ones.
The people who have previously made accusations against public citizens of “misinformation” and “fear-mongering” are IOGA and gas industry representatives. And now, they have succeeded in getting the public to do their dirty work for them. Perhaps this is a victory for the multi-national corporations, but it is a tragedy for our communities.
Lisa Wright
Ithaca
The form letter in question:
July, 2009
Dear Governor Paterson ,
I am a landowner in Broome County and member of the Gas Coalition. We are part of the Joint Coalition, an enormous group of coalitions that spans the counties of Broome, Tioga, Delaware, Madison, Chenango, Otsego, and Cortland counties, and are conservatively estimated to represent 20,000-30,000 constituents.
Residents of the Southern Tier of New York are facing the greatest opportunity in the history of our area. Various reports indicate our lands are sitting atop the “sweet spot” or “core area” of the Marcellus Shale natural gas play. This natural gas beneath our land has the incredible potential to jump start our sagging local economy if our New York State officials will only move the process forward.
Unfortunately, the anti-drilling crowd seeks to prevent us landowners from recovering the wealth beneath our lands in the guise of sustaining the environment. Through misinformation and fear mongering they are giving the impression gas drilling will create all kinds of horrific events in an effort to turn public officials against developing this valuable resource. They use fabricated “facts” rather than science to instill fear in the uninformed population.
They suggest they are the only protectors of the environment and the “greedy landowners” are only interested in the money, with total disregard for the environment. Nothing could be further from the truth. We harvest fruits and vegetables from our orchards and gardens, and our farming neighbors raise crops and produce milk from our lands.
We landowners are immensely concerned with our environment – we live here and plan on continuing to live here and pass our lands on to our following generations. Look at any of the lease clauses developed by the area coalition steering committees. Most of the clauses are designed specifically to protect our lands and the environment.
As a landowner in the Southern Tier I urge you to do everything in your power to move the gas drilling industry forward as soon as possible and allow us all, landowners and city-dwellers alike, to reap the benefits of the treasure beneath our land.
We have a right to responsibly use our land in any lawful way, including harvesting the natural gas beneath it.
Sincerely,
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