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LAT: Fracking debate divides New York landowners
As the state prepares to lift a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, many people debate the risks of leasing mineral rights to extraction companies.
By Neela Banerjee, Washington Bureau
February 19, 2012
Reporting from Callicoon, N.Y.—
Pete and Jack Diehl grew up in the tall clapboard house their German immigrant ancestors built in 1842, on a hillside overlooking a creek in the Catskills. Sharp-featured and lean, the brothers run dairy farms within a couple miles of each other. They own land together, and Pete's grandson works on Jack's farm every day after school.
But the Diehls are divided over the fate of their property — like thousands of others along the Pennsylvania border, where rich natural gas deposits underlie forests, pastures and towns. As New York prepares to lift a moratorium on new permits for hydraulic fracturing — which carries environmental risks — landowners are debating whether to lease mineral rights to extraction companies.
Pete, 67, opposes leasing his land and the property the brothers jointly own. He worries that he would lose control over his pastures to a big corporation and that the drilling process could ruin the water.
"Once you lease the land, they can do what they want on it. They can drill wherever they want," he said. "It's about the future. It's the landscape. It's the Catskills."
More: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fracking-ny-20120219,0,2843440.story
Photo Gallery for Story: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fracking-ny-pictures,0,74124.photogallery
By Neela Banerjee, Washington Bureau
February 19, 2012
Reporting from Callicoon, N.Y.—
Pete and Jack Diehl grew up in the tall clapboard house their German immigrant ancestors built in 1842, on a hillside overlooking a creek in the Catskills. Sharp-featured and lean, the brothers run dairy farms within a couple miles of each other. They own land together, and Pete's grandson works on Jack's farm every day after school.
But the Diehls are divided over the fate of their property — like thousands of others along the Pennsylvania border, where rich natural gas deposits underlie forests, pastures and towns. As New York prepares to lift a moratorium on new permits for hydraulic fracturing — which carries environmental risks — landowners are debating whether to lease mineral rights to extraction companies.
Pete, 67, opposes leasing his land and the property the brothers jointly own. He worries that he would lose control over his pastures to a big corporation and that the drilling process could ruin the water.
"Once you lease the land, they can do what they want on it. They can drill wherever they want," he said. "It's about the future. It's the landscape. It's the Catskills."
More: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fracking-ny-20120219,0,2843440.story
Photo Gallery for Story: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fracking-ny-pictures,0,74124.photogallery