NATURAL GAS DEVELOPMENT IN NYS OR NOT!
By: John M Kunzman, Sr., Broome County, New York
I’d like to preface this article by stating that I got involved over a decade ago in the natural gas exploration discussion as a leader of a coalition of landowners that had negotiated with the gas companies to attain the best deal for our members, while protecting the properties upon which we reside and safeguarding the environment.
A number of measures were instituted by the New York State Department of Conservation back then to safeguard extraction, but we were stalled by the environmentalists over the use of fracking liquids that, they believed, might contaminate the drinking water. Our coalition, which was on the cusp of making a lucrative deal to allow gas exploration came to a sudden halt.
The State DEC also stated that they did not have the staffing to supervise the number of well sites, but also did not have the foresight to realize the taxes, that would have been generated through the process, would have covered all of those “problems” AND bring a windfall into the State coffers!
We all assumed that the State would study the fracking solution problem, along with the gas industry, to solve the perceived water contamination problem.
In 2023, after a fifteen year wait, the landowners were once again approached by a gas exploration company – Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions, (https:southerntiersolutions.com) based out of Texas, who looked to, once again, explore natural gas retrieval utilizing CO2 to displace the natural gas locked in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays and lock the CO2 gas (the bane to all environmentalists concerned about climate change), in the ground.
Well, finally, there seemed to be a solution that would solve the problem and move natural gas exploration and its rewards to both the landowners and the State forward!
Southern Tier Solutions, led by Bryce P. Phillips, President, set out to solicit landowners in the Southern Tier to sign up, in an attempt to get a 100,000 acre block of acreage upon which his company could begin exploration, but the company’s offerings to the landowners were meager, compared to what had been offered years before, and the environmentalists and the Democrat ruled New York State reared up to put a stop to accessing any of New York’s plentiful natural gas resources.
In the past there were discussions of using the Fifth Amendment and Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (the Takings Clause) against New York State because the landowners were denied access to the minerals and gas beneath their property and their regulatory actions have effectively diminished the value of the property. The takings clause prohibits the government from taking private property for public use without just compensation. This clause is essential for protecting property rights and ensures that individuals are fairly compensated when their property is taken, either through formal expropriation or regulatory actions that effectively diminish property value by making the minerals and gas on those properties unattainable.
We’ve been patient and understanding, but the obvious control by the Democrat controlled New York State and the Environmentalists is disconcerting. Many of those who initially joined with us are now dead!
You may want to note that Pennsylvania allowed gas development, with the original fracking solution, back in the beginning of this fiasco and their State and many of their residents (not just landowners) have reaped the rewards! Have you heard of any negative comments recently? I haven’t!
This is, supposedly, a free country and no matter what some political faction wants, it doesn’t warrant depriving its citizens of the potential wealth to both the landowners and the State coffers along with the commerce that would transpire as a result of natural gas development. It happened in Pennsylvania and the same could happen here – in NEW YORK STATE!