Broome natural gas meeting set for Thursday

October 13, 2010, 10:35 pm

• Binghamton The Forum in Binghamton will host a four-hour meeting Thursday related to the natural gas drilling debate.

The topic will be whether Broome County should lead a state-mandated environmental review if the county decides to sign a mineral rights lease deal, which it is currently considering.
Signing a lease for county land is subject to the State Environmental Quality Review Act, which is meant to determine whether a specific action would have a large impact on the environment. The county legislature is considering a resolution that would declare itself the lead agency for the SEQRA review.
If the review finds that signing a mineral rights lease deal would have an effect on the environment, the county would have to prepare a full impact statement. While the county resolution deals with the actual signing of the lease, the state is preparing a Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement that would cover the drilling process.

The meeting will consist of two sessions: 2 to 4 p.m. and 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. About 40 people pre-registered to speak at each session, and all will be limited to three minutes each. Unregistered speakers will be allowed their turn at the microphone if time permits, and preference will be given to those living in Broome County.

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