County Rejects “Frack Us First” Language

A funny thing happend at the Town of Callicoon’s “frack us” takeover by the Town board. The frack shills got blocked by the county. In a rather remarkable bit of insight, Sullivan County has rejected some local shale shills attempt to stick “frack us first” language into a town’s comprehensive plan; language that would have exposed the town to unfettered exploitation by frackers. The board tried to get the language accepted, after shale sell-outs on the town board hastily adopted “frack us” resolution - in defiance of the residents’ wishes and frankly, in the absence of plain common-sense, given the woefully inadequate and unsettled state of the DEC’s proposed fracking regulations.

Most town residents will not benefit from fracking. So no surprise the majority oppose it. No need to shoot up the place just so some Okies can export gas to China.

http://www.nofrackingway.us/2012/07/21/penn-state-study-confirms-that-leases-cant-vote/

Callicoon may need to go to Plan B at the next election and get some new board members that support Home Rule, not Frackers Rule. They can run as the “Callicoon Cats”

http://www.nofrackingway.us/2013/02/07/republican-home-rule/

Sullivan County declines approval of Town of Callicoon Draft Comprehensive Plan “Frack Us” Language

Monticello, NY February 11, 2013: In what may be the first action of its kind in New York State, Sullivan County returned a draft Comprehensive Plan to the Town of Callicoon suggesting substantive changes because the draft contained pro-fracking language at odds with the expressed views of the residents. In a letter, dated February 4, 2013, obtained through a FOIL request, Assistant Commissioner Jill Weyer of the Sullivan County Division of Planning and Environmental Management advised the Town that the County “has received many letters of concern from residents of the Town regarding those portions of the Comprehensive Plan Update that recommend actions that would seem favorable to gas drilling.” The County went on to note that “the purpose of a comprehensive plan is to set forth the desires of the community’s residents” and recommended that references to gas drilling “be modified to defer to an Extractive and Heavy Industry Plan” to be developed “after obtaining a more comprehensive understanding of the Town’s residents’ opinions about extractive and heavy industries.”

District 5 County Legislator Cindy Kurpil Gieger whose district includes the Town said the County’s action was justified. “In numerous letters and phone calls to my office, residents have made it clear that they treasure the rural character of the Town and want to see it preserved for future generations. They have also made it crystal clear that they do not want their health and property values threatened by hydraulic fracturing. Hopefully the Town will now accept the advice of the County and revise the Plan so that it better represents the views of the residents.”

In 2010 when the Town conducted a community survey to guide the development of the Plan, 88% of the respondents who offered an opinion on “gas drilling” indicated that they opposed it. In 2012, 1032 voters and property owners responded to a postcard survey funded by members of the community. Six hundred and sixty-nine (669) stakeholders indicated that they opposed hydraulic fracturing, while only 328 supported it. Residents who have been battling the Town’s pro-fracking Plan for almost two years say they have compiled a list of all the stakeholders who have gone on the record to let the Town know their views on fracking. Four hundred and seventy-four say they oppose it; only ten say they support it.

Attorneys Helen and David Slottje of the Ithaca-based Community Environmental Defense Council, Inc. represent Callicoon residents who oppose the pro-fracking Plan. In an eleven page letter sent to the Sullivan County Division of Planning on January 24, 2013, they cited numerous procedural errors in the way the Plan was promulgated. Helen Slottje noted that the Town may ignore the County’s advice and adopt the Plan in its present form, but warns that would be a mistake. “The Town has already done a disservice to the residents of Callicoon by proposing a Plan that flies in the face of their clearly expressed wishes, and by seeking to promote a dangerous industrial activity that will put both the residents and their property at risk. If the Board adopts the draft Plan in its present form they will do a further disservice to the taxpayers by exposing the Town to costly litigation in defense of a Plan that is, at the end of the day, is indefensible.”

For further information contact: Community Environmental Defense Council. Inc. [email protected] OR Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy [email protected] or 845-468-7063