MDN Weekly Update – Apr 17, 2011

MDN attended a meeting of the Central New York Landowner’s Coalition on Saturday, April 9th in New Berlin, NY. Look for stories coming in the near future that detail what was discussed at the meeting. The CNY Coalition held two sessions that day, one in the morning for part of the members of the coalition, and another identical meeting in the afternoon. The coalition is so big it requires two sessions to handle all the members.

The crowd in the morning session, which MDN attended, numbered around 400 in the audience. The Evening Sun reports the crowd in the afternoon session was about 600 people. The meeting in the morning was orderly and uneventful. But it seems MDN missed the “fun” in the afternoon session:

An otherwise civil gathering of about 600 members of the Central New York Landowners Coalition at Unadilla Valley Central School Saturday turned ugly as protesters erected ‘no frak’ signs out in front of the school, took photos of cars and, later, defamed a coalition’s leader’s ‘Pass Responsible Gas Drilling’ banner located on the lawn of his Route 8 home.

CNYLC Steering Committee member Steve Gage said the perpetrators were taking photos of business decals on automobiles so people also opposed to drilling would know not to patronize those businesses. He said he called the police to his home to investigate his banner which had a swastika painted on it in red along with a racial slur.*

MDN has previously written about anti-drilling protestors who have broken the law by disrupting meetings and shutting down workplaces. To be fair, not all those who oppose drilling resort to these tactics—it’s a small minority. However, these incidents seem to be happening with more frequency.

Below you’ll find the “top 5” lists and this week’s calendar listings.

Happy reading,
Jim Willis, Editor

*Norwich Evening Sun (Apr 11, 2011) – Protesters target gas landowners meeting (PDF format)

Five Most Viewed Stories This Week (Apr 10 – Apr 16)

  1. Chesapeake Energy Paying $2,500 per Acre to Lease Utica Shale (4/11/11)
  2. New Cornell University Study Says Shale Gas Extraction Worse for Global Warming Than Coal (4/12/11)
  3. Canadian Company Pioneers Alternative to Water & Sand in Hydraulic Fracturing, Used on 700 Wells So Far (4/14/11)
  4. Chesapeake Energy Leases More Than 1,000 Parcels in Beaver County, PA Since Jan 1 (4/12/11)
  5. List of 78 Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid in Pennsylvania (6/30/10)

Five Most Viewed Stories Two Weeks Ago (Apr 3 – Apr 9)

  1. Range Resources Threatens to Stop Drilling in Mt. Pleasant Township, PA if New Ordinance is Passed (4/5/11)
  2. New Marcellus Shale Pipeline Coming to Southwestern PA, Northern WV (4/4/11)
  3. List of 78 Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid in Pennsylvania (6/30/10)
  4. A Brief History of Why the EPA (Currently) Does Not Regulate Hydraulic Fracturing (4/4/11)
  5. Winfield Township, PA Turns Down Lease Offer from BLX-Redmill; Lessons for Landowners (4/6/11)

Five Most Viewed Stories Last 30 Days (Mar 17 – Apr 16)

  1. List of 78 Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid in Pennsylvania (6/30/10)
  2. New Interactive Map Shows Marcellus Gas Wells in PA (3/29/11)
  3. Range Resources Threatens to Stop Drilling in Mt. Pleasant Township, PA if New Ordinance is Passed (4/5/11)
  4. Chesapeake Energy Paying $2,500 per Acre to Lease Utica Shale (4/11/11)
  5. New Marcellus Shale Pipeline Coming to Southwestern PA, Northern WV (4/4/11)

MDN Calendar (Apr 17 – Apr 23)

New York

Pennsylvania

West Virginia

Webcasts

4 Comments

  1. These anti gas nuts are like a bunch of adolecent spoiled brats. They should be ashamed of them selves. I can just imagine how their children act. Everyone is entitled to there own opinion. I hope the NYSDEC does the right thing and allows drilling to go forward. I am sure that these anti gas brats don’t own land to lease or pay property taxes. But you can be assured that they keep there sorry asses warm and cook there meals with that terrrible gas.

  2. “He said he called the police to his home to investigate his banner which had a swastika painted on it in red along with a racial slur.”

    You really think anyone opposed to drilling would be so stupid as to put such obviously offensive things like swastikas and racial slurs on pro-drilling banners?

    You guys must really be getting desperate.

  3. Taking pictures and putting signs up are not disruptive activities. Is there any evidence at all that anti- fracking activists defaced the sign? Think about it. Mr. Gage protesteth too much.

  4. Jim,

    Don’t be so fast to jump to the wrong conclusion.

    The incident reported concerning defacing a sign was probably instigated by the victim himself in order to gain sympathy and make trouble for the anti-drilling forces.

    The person he fingered was over 50 miles away at the time this took place with about 150 witnesses to back him up.

    This wouldn’t be the first time someone damaged their own property in order to place blame elsewhere – that’s why every house fire is investigated to rule out arson.