DEC held their final comment meeting at Corning East on Wednesday. I thought I had gone to a circus . The anti drillers had some pretty funny costumes. The politicians had their 5 minutes of time first. Steuben County was a no show. We didn't have 1 elected official show up. Eric Massa did send his aide. He read a statement that surely explains why he hasn't answered any of our requests to tell us his position. He sure made friends with all the anti drillers @ that meeting. Tompkins County had way to many politicians show up and speak. Kenny drew # 9 as a speaker. He did a very fine job. I posted his speech on our news and updates page. David Ballard and his family are putting together a petition for all of us sign to show NYS our position on this issue. David is a member of our coalition and he is trying to do his part. We thank him for that. Make sure and check back on our website this week. We will post anything new. Nicole and Mary will be sending out a letter to all members to verify your land you have signed up. Make sure and send an email to DEC and let them know what you think. The email address is on our home page. We were told they take written comments  more serious then "outside showboating" verbal comments. If you see any of our elected officials of any level, make sure to express our extreme disappointment of their no show on Wednesday.

Until next week,

Dana

 

Nicole and Mary are putting in overtime to get our bid package out. Everything is going fine just time consuming. Make sure to read about the important DEC meeting this Wednesday. All the details are here on our home page. Let's make sure DEC doesn't think the anti-drilling groups are the only ones concerned. Yesterday when I was out in the woods, I came up with what I think would be a simple solution. As long as we are still a democracy, why don't we figure out how many leasable acres we have in New York State. Then we could give everyone 1 vote per acre of land they own.  Another words if you own 140 acres you would get 140 votes. If you own 2 acres, you would get 2 votes. Then we could have a fair vote on these natural gas issues. Hope to see everyone Wednesday @ Corning East High School. (Please don't wear any silly 55 gallon drum costumes).

Until next week,

Dana

 

Nicole and Mary have been working hard to get everything ready for our first round bid package. They say things are going fine and they are still on schedule. NYS extended the public comment period for another 30 days. We are hoping this won't effect our bids. I recieved a letter from Assemblyman James Bacallas in response to my email asking his stance on   natural gas issues.

He says his stance has not changed. He is still in favor of natural gas development in NY, particularly the Southern Tier. He states " I neither agree the extra time is necessary nor do I believe the drastic, adverse predictions of enviromental damage some proclaim will occur if drilling is allowed."  We thank Assemblyman Baccallas for his support and time to respond. We will put him back on our "good" list. As for NYS Sen. George Winner, Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Eric Massa, they have not made our "good" list. We have heard nothing from them.

Until next week,

Dana

Our first cutoff date endend yesterday. If you still want to sign up your land, don't worry. Your land will go out in the next bid package. Mary is still getting everything together. Right now she says we have well over 146,000 acres ready to go out for bid. Mary says to tell everyone that things are rolling along well. If you have questions or want to sign up , Mary encourages you to call her (359-3178). Evenings are the best time to catch her. Ellen Zver wanted to know why our local politicians hadn't voiced any opinions. I wrote an email to NYS Assemblyman James Bacalles, NYS Senator George Winner, Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Eric Massa asking each of them their position on this gas drilling issues. I also asked for any updates they had so I could post them on our web site. It has been a week and a half and I haven't heard one thing from any of them. Must be they are too busy or they are not sure which side of the fence has the softest landing.

Until next week,

Dana

Remember the cutoff date is OCT. 31. Mary reports that she has been busy getting coalition members information ready for the bid package. If you have any questions about your land being in the coalition, Mary encourages you to give them a call or send an email. I have nothing to report from Nicole because I haven't received anything from her. The executive committee met with a law firm on Thursday. They agreed to help us and the coalition members out in any way possible. I will leave the links up on the home page for at least one more week. If you didn't get a chance to see Kenny's tv interview, it is posted here. Make sure and send your comments to the DEC.

Until next week,

Dana

Remember the cutoff date is OCT. 31. Tell all your neighbors to make sure they are signed up by 10-31 if they want to go out in the first round of bids. If you have been receiving email updates or postcard mailings from the SCLOC, then you are signed up and have to do no more.We are having an Amish landowners signup on 10-27 @ 7:00 @ the Woodhull Town Hall. Mary sent out 525 postcards to members without an email address.Make sure and let your voice be heard to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and the NYSDEC. Just click on the links here on our home page.There is no reason that the landowners shouldn't be heard more so than the non-landowners. Let's make sure everything keeps heading forward.

Until next week,

Dana

Things are really headed in the right direction now. Mary has the mapping done for the southern part of Steuben County. It really looks impressive. Nicole has several gas companies interested in what we have to offer them. We have set a cutoff date of OCTOBER 31. What that means is, everyone that is signed up with the coalition by 10-31, your land will go out to bid by mid November. Anyone that signs up after 10-31, you will go in the next round of bids. So, if you know of anyone that hasn't signed up yet, get them to do it before the end of the month.

Kenny was on WENY-TV this morning. He did a very good job. We are trying to get a link or webcast to put on this website. Keep checking back for any updates we will have for you.

As everything moves along, we will set some dates for regional meetings. Nicole and Mary are preparing a mass mailing with more information for the coalition.

Until next week,

Dana

Well the rumor mill was right. The GEIS draft was released on Wednesday 9-30-09. There will be a public comment period until November 30th. This is really going to get the ball rolling. Make sure and tell all your neighbors and friends to get signed up so they will get the best lease possible. We are talking about a couple more public meetings in the fall as things get rolling faster. Keep checking back, we will let you know when and where. Mary is making good progress on the mapping. Don't forget to watch WENY TV next Sunday the 11th @ 9:00 a.m. Kenny will be on talking about the SCLOC and other topics. It looks like we have turned the corner and are headed in the right direction.

Until next week,

Dana

Unfortunately the GEIS draft was not released on 9-25 like the rumor mill had. The same rumor mill has 9-30 as the release date. Let's hope they are right this time. Nicole reports that her persistance is paying off with a handful of gas companies showing interest in our coalition. Mary is spending a lot of time on the mapping portion that is needed for our bid package. Kenny is going to be on WENY TV on Sunday morning, Oct. 11th @ 9:00 a.m. Make sure to tell all your neighbors and friends to get signed up with the coalition as soon as possible. We will have a cutoff date for the first group to go out to bid sometime in the near future. The date will depend on how fast everything comes together. Nicole will post the link for the GEIS draft review as soon as it is announced. Keep checking back here. Hopefully there will be good news.

Until next week,

Dana

Nicole had a busy week. She was invited to go with the New York State Farm Bureau to Washington to meet with the staff of many of our Congressman.Nicole said some were unaware of what the Marcellus Shale was.Nicole met with Michael Acuri. He was very interested in the development of the Marcellus Shale and mentioned that Pete Grannis ( the head of NY DEC) was going to be in his office this past Friday (9-18-09) to discuss just that.Nicole insisted that when he met with Mr. Grannis to implore him to move swiftly forward into the exploration of the Marcellus. Mary also had a busy week. She said we had over 1200 acres sign up this week. Mary has been working on the mapping so we will be ready when the gas companies are ready for us. Kenny has been invited to be a guest on one of the twin tier community shows the first part of October. I will let you know when and where when Kenny finds out. Rumor on the natural gas blogs has next Friday (9-25-09) as the date DEC is going to release the SGEIS draft. Let's hope they are right. All of last weeks news articles I moved to news and updates. I started  a Blog Archives for previous weeks blogs. If you are not able to find things very easy on our site, let us know.

Until next week,

Dana