Apparently there are other companies leasing land (at least in Upstate New York). This time is it is for windmills. Give them time, they will be here. Then you can lease the surface rights to your land as well as the mineral rights. The question then becomes - “What do you really have left to sell?”
The following article from the New York Times is about the possible corruption of local officials regarding wind farms.
Do you think that will be happening here? Has it already happened? Is it happening now?
Who is making sure the excellent roads we have here will be protected from deteriorating into mudholes and potholes? Have the townships a plan in place to get a meaningful bond from these gas companies when the drilling starts? Or are the various supervisors taking a “wait and see” approach? Or is that wait and do nothing, hoping the gas companies will make things “right”? How about enacting ordinances NOW to limit noise, smell, light, runoff, soil erosion, protect drinking water quality, etc. as well as from bothering other landowners, some of whom have not signed and will not sign a lease?
Your thoughts?
The “wind farm” is the subject of intense debate in northern New York. The farmers with large land that is suitable only for hay production hope to make some money using the wind. The tourists and village dwellers don’t want the ugly visage of giant turbines and the noise and wind flicker and ground vibration they expect to result. One resident of Lowville, NY, where there already is a wind farm told a Channel 7 interviewer that the noise of a turbine in a hail storm is “like a 747 getting ready for takeoff. But, it never takes off!”
Wind turbine web sites for northern New York:
http://www.stlawrencewind.org/
http://www.eccojeffersoncounty.org/
The news release of the Attorney General
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2008/july/july15a_08.html
A couple of pictures showing the view from the St. Lawrence river:
http://www.insigniodesign.com/sim/Project1.html
http://www.insigniodesign.com/sim/Project2.html
In most of northern New York there is zoning in effect that gives the towns time to consider and reflect of the path forward. The town of Cape Vincent has permitted the wind companies to go forward; the town of Lyme had instituted some restrictions. This is quite unlike the situation in Susquehanna County where your neighbor and a big oil and gas company can set up a gas well several hundred feet from your property line without asking anyone.
The least likely savior for the anti-wind folk: the Indiana bat. This small creature is endangered and currently suffering from white nose syndrome. The government of the State of New York has suspended turbine construction until the potential impact of these bats is evaluated.
http://www.dec.ny.gov/environmentdec/41459.html