Local Leaders Say NYC Should Buy Gas Development Rights if Drilling is Prevented in the Watershed
West Branch Delaware River, looking upriver from a window on the Hamden Covered Bridge.
From the Walton Reporter (no website), January 27, 2010.
New York State Senator John Bonacic said, last week, that New York City should purchase natural gas drilling rights in the watershed, rather than try to have the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) prohibit the drilling through regulation. Bonacic said the attempt to have gas drilling prevented in the watershed is an attempt to expand New York City Watershed Rules and Regulations without any compensation.
Bonacic said the city is trying to sidestep the procedures set up in the Memorandum of Agreement that was signed by upstate communities, New York City, the state of New York, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and environmental groups. He said the city has attempted to have specific rules placed on watershed properties before, through the Army Corps of Engineers, and is now attempting the same “back door” maneuver to get the state to impose stiffer regulations on the watershed than the remainder of the state.
“If New York City can stop development of energy sources in the Catskills, they can diminish the value of the people’s land without compensation,” Bonacic said. “Anytime a government singles out my constituents and tries to diminish their wealth potential, without offering compensation, I am opposed on principle.”
The DEC is currently reviewing comments made in response to proposed draft regulations for gas drilling in New York. New York City in its comments provided a detailed description of potential dangers drilling in the watershed could impose on its drinking water and that drilling could also jeopardize its filtration avoidance determination (FAD) from the EPA.
Drilling opponents are asking for a statewide ban on drilling or a moratorium until DEC has addressed all concerns to protect drinking water aquifers. A prohibition of drilling in the New York City Watershed would enhance their abilities to prove that the processes proposed for extraction of gas in the state are potentially harmful in any watershed.
Bonacic offered a solution to the city Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the “so-called environmental groups” which oppose gas drilling in the Catskills. “Let them buy the development rights,” he said. “For those landowners who want to sell their gas rights, let the city pay the same market rate to keep the land undeveloped. We buy agricultural development rights for tracts of land we wish to preserve. Let those who oppose the lawful exploration and extraction of gas in the Catskills pay for those development tights the same way the state and local governments pay for development rights owned by farmers.”
Bonacic concluded, “Attempting to backdoor more regulation onto the watershed lands is offensive, breaches the spirit of the watershed agreement and diminishes trust between the watershed communities and the city. If the city wants to renegotiate the watershed agreement, then let them do it, but it is patently wrong for them to try to use sneaky back door efforts through another government agency to do their bidding.”
Bonacic’s proposal was met with support from Assemblyman Clifford Crouch, who said, “With the potential natural gas development comes the potential for job growth and financial stimulus which upstaters have for lo long been deprived of. The economic development and job creation linked to natural gas exploration is necessary for the survival of the upstate economy.”
Crouch said the development of natural gas in New York can ensure the stability of state financed programs and combat the ballooning deficit, adding, “The reality is that New York City does not control the mineral rights in the watershed, and to impose such regulations constitutes the taking of mineral rights without adequate compensation.”
Delaware County Board of Supervisors Chairman James Eisel said the county has already passed a resolution that states just what Bonacic and Crouch have proposed. “We stated that months ago,” he said.” “If the state is going to be allowed to profit from this modern day gold rush, then the citizens of Delaware County must not be left out. If the city doesn’t want drilling in the watershed, then our property owners should be compensated fairly, for the development rights and the potential royalties.”
Eisel said he doesn’t believe the administration is going to allow the watershed to be singled out, however. “I’ll tell you, since he took over for Spitzer, so much of what he’s done and said has made sense to me, about the state’s predicament and the measures we have to take to straighten things out. He’s got to understand the economic potential that gas development will provide and see to it that the entire state can take advantage.”
A Delaware County Democrat has also voiced his support for the monetary compensation solution. Town of Hamden supervisor Wayne Marshfield, who is a member of the Catskill Watershed Corporation Board of Directors, said, “People in the Catskills are struggling. There is not a lot of wealth here. Trying to impose new regulations by using a state agency to do its bidding is wrong. If the city wants to further limit our property rights, they should pay us to limit them. That would be in keeping with the spirit of the watershed agreement and the respect both the city and upstate need to have for each other.”
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