On Thursday October 22, 2009 the Cortland County Legislature unanimously adopted a  resolution calling for the DEC to extend the comment period on the SGEIS to 180 days. This resolution was introduced by Cortland County legislator Kathie Arnold, with help from Jim Weiss, Chairman of the Planning Board in the Town of Freetown.  The resolution will be sent to Governor David Paterson, DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis,  Senator James Seward , and Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton.

The full text of the resolution follows:

WHEREAS,
on September 30, 2009, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation issued a draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) for potential natural gas drilling activities in the Marcellus Shale formation, allowing a 60 day public comment period and four public hearings,

AND WHEREAS,
given that the SGEIS is an 800 plus page document, 60 days is too short a time period to allow the public and appointed and elected officials to have adequate time to read, study, and comment on this lengthy document, with the added fact that many people in rural areas do not have access to high speed internet making access over the internet impossible, and given that paper copies were not available for 10 days after the internet posting of the SGEIS which means only 50 days allowed for comment by people without high speed internet access,

WHEREAS,
four public hearings is inadequate to fully allow the public to participate,

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,
that the Cortland County Legislature strongly urges NYS DEC to lengthen the comment period to 180 days to allow citizens and officials adequate time to read and assess the document and compose appropriate comments,

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED,
that additional hearings be held around the state, especially in the counties affected, so that everyone has a chance to participate and to hear the testimony,

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED,
that a copy of this resolution shall be sent to Governor Patterson, DEC Commissioner Grannis, Senator James Seward, Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, and Assemblyman Gary Finch.