To the Editor:
The Chamber of Commerce “State of the Area Meeting” meeting held in Cazenovia on Jan. 29 was very interesting as far as it went. The speakers presented a glowing picture of the progress and future plans for the area.
Several of the speakers listed on the program were not present – David Valesky, Priscilla Suits and Russell Cary.
During the question and answer period the subject of hydraulic shale oil and gas drilling came up. The proposed road use plan in Cazenovia was discussed and is very promising.
When asked about allowing a one year moratorium in the towns of Cazenovia, DeRuyter and Fenner the opinion of Roger Bradstreet [supervisor] from the town of Nelson was that, rather than spend large sums of money now ($1,000 to $1,500 in the town of Eaton), they would let the other towns spend the money and if drilling became to the area they would do something about it then.
A moratorium only gives the town protection while they are working on the zoning to protect the residents from drilling. The protection now is for the towns mentioned to trust our officials to put any companies that want a permit to drill to apply for a permit and go through the planning and zoning boards.
After seeing the results of this in areas that allow drilling now, I and most of the residents from these towns that we speak with do not feel that is enough. We want the protection of safe zoning.
Miriam Barrows, Erieville