As the state moves closer to allowing hydraulic fracturing—and with municipal sentiment likely to be taken into account—the battle at the local level appears to be heating up.
Take the town of Avon, for example. The Livingston County town on June 28 passed a one-year moratorium on gas drilling and hydrofracking, much to the chagrin of Lenape Resources, a local gas company that has drilled about 25 wells in the municipality over the years.
Over the weekend, the company sent a letter to landowners it had leased gas rights from. As part of that lease, the landowners received free natural gas from the company, as well as royalty payments. Because of the new moratorium, the company’s president wrote, the “free gas” would be shut off and all of their wells are being capped for the time being.
“Once a well has been ‘shut-in,’ all natural gas production from that well will stop, all landowner production royalties will stop and Lenape will have to stop delivering ‘free gas’ from its wells located in the Town of Avon,” wrote John Holko, the company president. “All homeowners with gas connections to Lenape’s Avon gathering system will be disrupted.”
There appears to be a bit of a “rally the troops” angle to the letter. A company representative was the only one to speak against the moratorium at a recent meeting, according to local media, and its letter includes contact information for the town supervisor.
Meanwhile, the Press & Sun-Bulletin took a look at the Broome County town of Vestal in today’s editions. Vestal has been in the crosshairs of both gas-drilling supporters and opponents, with the former asking for a ban on hydrofracking and the latter asking for a resolution in support of the technique.
It could have major implications. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has hinted in recent months that a municipality’s support or opposition will likely be a consideration if hydrofracking permits begin going out the door.
In an interview on WGDJ-AM today, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the DEC’s review of the technique will wrap up “later this summer.” A statewide moratorium, of sorts, remains in place until that is completed.
Here’s the letter from Lenape Resources, which began going out to landowners in recent days:
