Three experts will be present at a public forum in Dryden to give taxpayers, landowners, and other residents the opportunity to ask questions about natural-gas drilling in New York’s Marcellus Shale formation, and to consider their rights in the land leasing process. The event is being held on Thursday, August 20, from 7:00 – 9:30 pm in the Dryden Fire House Community Room (26 North Street, Route 13; next to Dunkin’ Donuts). Addressing those present will be NY State Assistant Attorneys General Michael Danaher and Roberto Barbosa, from the Binghamton Regional Office; they will speak about citizens rights in the leasing process. Their fifty-minute talk will be followed by a thirty-minute presentation by Andrew Byers, a Shaleshock organization leader, who will speak about gas drilling’s potential impacts to our community and the specific drilling technique planned for Tompkins County. There will be an opportunity to ask questions after the two presentations. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.

The forum is designed to address residents’ concerns about the pros and cons of signing a lease with a gas company, what options are available to landowners who choose not to sign a lease, and how industrial-scale gas-drilling might affect the county’s water resources, farm land, property values, tax base, truck-traffic volume, and recreational activities like tourism, hunting, birding, hiking, and biking.

The Dryden public forum is sponsored by Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition (DRAC). DRAC, which was formed by a group of concerned Dryden residents in June 2009, seeks to learn the truth about the hydrofracking process, and to determine the effects it will have on local homes, roads, communities, and recreation areas, as well as the local economy. All concerned citizens are welcome to join. For additional information, contact: Marie McRae at 607-280-9250 or mmmcrae@juno.com, Martha Fischer at mf26@frontier.com, or Hilary Lambert at hilary_lambert@yahoo.com.