Dateline: 28 March 2011
The entire town board was present for the March 26 meeting and approximately 20 people from the community were in attendance.
The meeting began with Supervisor, Kevin Court, giving each of the board members a list of town residents who had sent letters or e-mails to the town about the hydrofracking issue. There were 32 people on the list. The actual letters were also made availalbe and I read them as time permitted during the meeting. Several were form letters, some of which had handwritten comments. A few letters were not form letters. One letter was not signed. If I understood correctly, all of the letters expressed concerns about hydrofracking in the town. I think it is safe to say that the people who sent the letters were in support of at least a moratorium.
Kevin then announced that seven town residents had volunteered to serve on a citizen committee to research the hydrofracking issue and report their findings to the board. He felt seven was a good number of people, so all seven will serve on the committee. The people are (in alphabetical order): John Bell, Georgia Davison, Jack Fick, Bob Hazelton, Bruce Langerlan, Sheena Mason and Denise Sanchez.
There was some discussion about the citizen committee. It was decided that the committee would be appointed for one year, that they would choose among themselves a chairman, and that they would give a progress report to the board at each monthly board meeting. A monthly report of up to 5 minutes in length was mentioned and I expressed concern that 5 minutes may not be enough time. The board then voted unanimously to form the committee.
I’d like to say that I greatly appreciate all of these people volunteering to take the time to seriously investigate the many aspects of hydrofracking and the impact that hydrofracking would likely have on the Sempronius community.
With that in mind, I want to mention that the nearby town of Scipio formed a citizen “study group” to investigate hydrofracking. The group submitted a “Fact Finding Summary” to the board in 2011. The front page of the report states...
“...this study group researched, collected, discussed and compiled information on the impact of HORIZONTAL DRILLING WITH HIGH VOLUME HYDRAULIC FRACTURING to aide the Scipio Town Board, who make wise decisions for the future health and well being of our town and community.”
I like that choice of words and I hope the Sempronius committee will proceed in like manner.
Back to the town board meeting of the 26th...
I inquired of our Supervisor if we would be discussing the matter of a moratorium on hydrofracking in Sempronius. He said yes, and expressed his belief that it would be a good idea to not yet make a decision on a moratorium, but to first request a moratorium law from our attorney for the board to consider.
The matter of moratorium was discussed for several minutes and questions were raised, some of which came from people in the audience.
Most of the questions centered around why we need a moratorium. I said that we had a public meeting asking for input from Sempronius residents about hydrofracking (Click Here to read about the meeting), and the clear majority of people who spoke at that meeting respectfully asked the board to enact a moratorium to provide time to better understand the hydrofracking issue. I also stated that moratorium is a proper step for any governmental body to take when dealing with a complicated and contentious issue.
One person in the audience wondered why we are in a hurry to enact a moratorium. A board member (not me) replied that we are not hurrying. This matter has been discussed for some time, and the board has been looking into it.
There seemed to be some general confusion in the audience about potential cost, liability, litigation, the State’s role in all of this, and so forth. I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the factors involved in a moratorium, but I don’t feel qualified to publicly address them. I explained that when the board has a draft hydrofracking moratorium law, there will be a public meeting to explain the proposed law, and the attorney should be able to answer questions and concerns that people have at that time.
We eventually got around to a vote to request a hydrofracking draft law. The motion was made by Joseph Lorah, I seconded it. The vote was three in favor, one against, and the motion was carried. The meeting then proceeded on to regular business and the usual review and signing of authorizations to pay bills.
The only other item of discussion related to hydrofracking occurred near the close of the meeting. The board member who voted against the moratorium said he felt the town should have the water tested in the well that supplies the town hall and the well that supplies the town barn. I asked if he meant to have the water tested for toxins and chemicals, which is a more extensive and expensive water test than is typically done. He said yes and then asked me if I was going to have the well water at my home tested. I said I though it would be a good idea.
I’m not sure what a deluxe water test costs (I’ve heard prices ranging from $350 to $600), and I’m not sure the town really needs one at this point in time, but we sure would want to get one if hydrofracking comes to Sempronius. And I will certainly get such a test of my own water well if that happens.
But no one had any objections to getting the town’s water supplies tested. I’ll report here on the cost and test results when they are available.
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In my next report here I will tell about the two gas wells that we currently have in the town of Sempronius.