Otsego County gas panel rejects home rule [The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.]

Nov. 29--COOPERSTOWN -- Rep. James Powers, R-Butternuts, acting as chairman of the Otsego County Natural Gas Advisory Committee, on Monday quickly rejected a request to have the panel endorse state legislation that would give local communities the authority to prohibit gas drilling within their boundaries.

In opposing the resolution, Powers broke ranks with his own party's highest elected official in the region -- Sen. James Seward, R-Milford, the author of the home rule bill that the gas lobby in Albany has been working to stymy.

Calling for the advisory committee to stand behind Seward's bill was Rep. Rich Murphy, D-Town of Oneonta, who along with Powers was re-elected to the county board in this month's election.

Powers, explaining his opposition to the legislation, told The Daily Star: "When you have home rule, you're basically saying that town boards can decide the scientific issues of the day, whether they be crop spraying or genetically modified crops. I don't know there would be the expertise on town boards -- particularly when it comes to gas drilling -- to decide on the scientific aspects vs. the economic impact. That's why you need the DEC (the state Department of Environmental Conservation) to make across-the-state rulings."

Powers, a farmer, said he has not leased any of his land to energy exploration companies. He would not rule out the possibility he will do so in the future. "I'm keeping my options open," he said.

Murphy said he would continue to press for a resolution supporting home rule on gas drilling within the framework of the Solid Waste and Environmental Concerns Committee, the parent committee of the natural gas advisory panel. Murphy said the issue is simply about giving communities a say in their own destinies regarding potential involvement with the gas industry. "If the municipality doesn't want to have home rule then they wouldn't have to have it," he said.

The Board of Representatives is split on gas drilling, with most Republicans taking the stance that they favor "safe" drilling, while Democrats, citing concerns about potential water pollution, are generally opposed to hydraulic fracturing of shale to tap gas deposits. As of Jan. 1, the board will have seven Republicans and seven Democrats, although the GOP will keep the reins of power because it holds a majority of the weighted votes in a system that gives more clouts to representatives from the most populous districts.

One of the incoming Republican board members, Pauline Koren, came out against hydrofracking in her campaign. On Monday, she told The Star, "I am still doing my homework on that" when asked if she backed Seward's home rule bill. The senator is a resident of the district Koren will be representing in less than five weeks.

The home rule debate flared up after the natural gas panel heard from a representative of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York, John Conrad. He said Otsego County "is probably well outside the area that will be drilled early on."

"The real sweet spots" for shale gas deposits, he said, are likely in Broome, Tioga and Steuben counties.

But based on drilling of test wells in Otsego County, "the results are encouraging" that the shale deposits will yield significant amounts of gas, Conrad said.

A factor expected to slow gas development in Otsego County, he said, is that "natural gas pipelines are really lacking in this area." Because of that, he said the gas extracted from Otsego County could end up being distributed "on a more local scale, especially if drilling is more limited."

One advisory panel member, Lou Allstadt, a retired Mobil Corp. executive, said state regulators are relying on outdated maps that lack details of many geological fault line that are shown on more recent maps of Otsego County's subsurface. He said drilling in shallow areas where there are fault lines would heighten the risk that not only fracking fluids but methane will flow back to the surface.

Allstadt said he believes Otsego County, because it has shallow gas deposits, will likely attract "small outfits that don't have a lot of financial capability...Some of them are good, some of them aren't." But all drillers, large and small, he said, should be monitored closely by government agencies to keep the possibility of spills and other mishaps in check.

Conrad said in his talk that larger drilling companies place greater emphasis on risk management.

Marie Lusins-McLachlan, another advisory panel member who is also a pro-drilling activist, said some of the points made by Conrad fortified her belief that Otsego County gas deposits could be extracted to benefit county residents.

"This should be a focal point -- local gas for local people," she said. "We definitely need a boost for local industry and we certainly need jobs."

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