Dateline: 18 February 2012
Revised: 19 February 2012
 |
| The Largest Landowner in Sempronius Owns These Acres |
A resident of our town, and reader of this blog, has sent me the following list of the largest landowners in Sempronius (as found on this web site). I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this list, but if it is even close to accurate, it is sufficient to make a couple of important points.....
.
Sempronius Large Property Owners
State of New York 4,119.11 acres
Bill Tracy 829.40 acres
Louis Dewitt 594.54 acres
Farm East LLC 559.79 acres
Robert Thilburg 339.40 acres
Francis Mead 310.20 acres
Brian Shively 301.3 acres
Shawn Becker 279.80 acres
Chad Ronk 255.30 acres
Lawrence Baran 220.06 acres
Lee Hopkins 214.30 acres
Ken Reynolds 209.00 acres
Stan Burhans 205.50 acres
David Phillips 196.77 acres
State of New York 4,119.11 acres
Bill Tracy 829.40 acres
Louis Dewitt 594.54 acres
Farm East LLC 559.79 acres
Robert Thilburg 339.40 acres
Francis Mead 310.20 acres
Brian Shively 301.3 acres
Shawn Becker 279.80 acres
Chad Ronk 255.30 acres
Lawrence Baran 220.06 acres
Lee Hopkins 214.30 acres
Ken Reynolds 209.00 acres
Stan Burhans 205.50 acres
David Phillips 196.77 acres
The first thing I’d like to point out is that a great big piece of the town of Sempronius is owned by New York State. Bear Swamp State Forest, and additional state lands, add up to quite a chunk!
.
The township of Sempronius has 29.4 square miles of dry land. There are 640 acres in a square mile. So, by my calculations, that amounts to a total of 18,816 acres of land in our town
If we subtract the state land acres (4,119) from the total of town acres (18,816) we get 14,697 acres. Then if we subtract the total of land owned by the thirteen other largest landowners in the town, as noted above (4,515), we are left with 10,182 acres.
Therefore, of the privately owned property in Sempronius, most of it is owned, not by the large landowners of our town, but by the many smaller landowners. In fact, the smaller private landowners actually own more than twice as much land as the largest landowners. I think that is an important point to make.
The other point I want to make is that the largest landowner in Sempronius (New York State) has stated that they will allow gas companies to drill under state lands. Therefore, if you are a Sempronius resident with land up close to Bear Swamp State Forest, you are more likely to have a hydrofrack drilling pad on or near your property. Which means you will be more exposed to the significant risks and dangers that the Chesapeake Energy company warns its investors about (but not small-town landowners), as I explained in my previous post.
Now, for the record, my little piece of Sempronius does not border Bear Swamp, and, frankly, in light of this revelation, I’m glad it doesn't. But that’s beside the point. This isn’t about me. It’s about something much bigger than my own self interests. It’s about the health, safety and general welfare of this entire town.
I say that very seriously because, as one of five people on the town board I have been entrusted by the voters of this town with the responsibility of (among several other things) protecting the health, safety and general welfare of the whole Sempronius community, at least, to the best of my ability, with the powers invested in me.
No one else on the local level has the ability to put the brakes on hydrofracking activity in Sempronius as does the town board. It comes down to the following five men (listed by town board senoirity):
1. Kevin Court (supervisor)
2. David Becker
3. Herrick Kimball
4. Eric Burhans
5. Joseph Lorah
I (Herrick Kimball) have publicly stated on this web site that I believe, based on many hours of personal research, and the information I have read (only some of which I have presented here) that there is sufficient evidence to indicate that hydrofracking is not safe for communities where it is done.
And I have also made it clear that I believe the town board should enact a moratorium to stop any forward progress towards hydrofracking so that we can further consider and investigate all the many facets of this issue.
None of the other Sempronius town board members have publicly stated their position on a hydrofracking moratorium. So I can’t speak for them. But I can tell you that all of them are responsible, civic-minded individuals who I have a lot of respect for. They will come to their own conclusions and justify them for you.
There is a monthly town board meeting tomorrow night, February 20th at 7:00 pm. If you are concerned about this issue, I invite you to come to the meeting.