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The Lansing Town Board was taken to task Wednesday for not officially weighing in on natural gas drilling before a December 31 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) deadline.  Ludlowville resident and businesswoman Stephanie Levy asked board members why they had not passed a resolution to be an 'interested agency' which would have been the first step in having a voice in the ongoing state-wide hydro-fracking debate.

Town Supervisor Scott Pinney told her that other issues and the town attorney's advice that it was not necessary for the Town to pass such a resolution at that time was the reason it was not done.  But Levy said that it would have been easy to pass a boilerplate resolution, even in the short time between the issue being presented to the board at their December 16th meeting and the DEC deadline.

"There was a template provided," she said.  "It was a one page resolution passed by other towns.  It would have taken less time to do that than to brew a pot of coffee.  (Lansing Town Attorney) Guy Krogh had already reviewed it with other towns."


The resolution was brought to the board by James Mason, Levy's husband and a Town Board candidate in the last election who made his concern about hydro-fracking in Lansing a major issue of his campaign.  By the December 16th meeting the Town had decided to form a natural gas drilling advisory committee with Mason as its chair.  Newly elected Town Board Member Kathy Miller will be Deputy Chair.

At that meeting Krogh explained that the Town can not be an 'involved agency,' which has jurisdiction to take direct action, but it could be an 'interested agency,' which essentially gives the Town the same voice as a member of the public would have.  Supporters of the resolution argued that it would be a way for the Town to officially weigh in, even if it didn't have legal teeth.

But Councilman Marty Christopher noted that it was stretching it to think that the Town Board would act within the two weeks, which included the holiday period, during which no Town Board meetings were scheduled.  Deputy Supervisor Connie Wilcox noted that one town's resolution isn't going to have much influence over the DEC deliberations.

"My opinion is that one town, the Town of Lansing, not passing a resolution isn't going to make or break the whole thing," she said.  "There are so many people at the state and federal level looking at this who certainly have a great deal more knowledge about this than we do."

But Levy wasn't satisfied.  She noted that the towns of Ulysses, Caroline, Danby, Dryden, Ithaca, Hector, and Enfield had all passed resolutions, as well as the Tompkins County Council Of Governments (TCCOG).

"I agree with you," she said.  "That's the beautiful thing that living in Tompkins County I'm also represented by TCCOG.  The disappointment that I feel with elected officials who are saying ,'Gee, somebody else has taken care of it, so we don't have to even take action' -- I just wanted to hear what your thinking is."

Pinney and Wilcox noted that they have faith in the knowledge and advice the committee will bring to the board, once it actually meets and produces recommendations.  Resident Dan Konowalo noted that Lansing is not part of the target area for Marcellus Shale drilling, but the Town should be prepared to deal with it when it comes.  Wilcox agreed and said said she has started a file on natural gas drilling, and talked to Cornell Cooperative Extension employees who have been tracking and mapping the potential impact. 

"They've done quite an extensive study on this," she said.  "They said that people need to step back and take a look at what is actually going on, because some of this stuff is pure hype and some is not.  You have to filter that out.  It is a very important issue, but it's not the only issue that the Town has.  We have a lot of issues.  We're not ignoring it."

"I personally think we should have passed it," Miller said.  "Regardless, I don't think it's going to take away from the power that we're going to have.  The more I read the more I realize that people with a lot more knowledge than any of us on the board have are asking a lot of questions about this.  I think that in the end our committee will be able to do some things once we meet and get things going.  I wish it had passed, but the bottom line is I don't think that means we're done.  We have a strong committee, and it looks like some of the members are fairly knowledgeable.  Things are starting to heat up now, and I don't think this is going to be a detriment to Lansing."

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