To the Editor:
(Canastota, NY – May 2013) When it comes to restricting gas drilling, a high-impact industrial activity, towns no longer have the excuse of expensive lawsuits for not enacting bans. New York Appellate Court has affirmed Home Rule – declaring “zoning law is valid.”
Attorney David Slottje crafted the law which employs local zoning to specifically ban heavy industry including hydrofracking. He will work with any municipality without compensation – prior to drilling permits being issued. He does this for free because he has seen the horrifying effects of shale gas extraction in Pennsylvania and it sickened him.
Drilling requires enormous volumes of fresh water and large areas of land to gain access to shale gas reserves. The industry can be drilling on one property and extract gas from underneath other person’s property. These drill sites can be close to farmlands, water sources, schools and homes. Chemical contamination of drinking water and air pollution will lead to many illnesses.
Call your town board; elected officials can adopt local laws against hydrofracking and are able to use the services of David & Helen Slottje of the Environmental Defense Council to do so.
Linda Steffen, Canastota