In the last few months, everything has changed – but in reality, nothing has changed. What has changed? The Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company seems to have dropped its Northeast Extension Project, after the partnership of Williams and Cabot announced their Constitution Pipeline. Instead of moving the gas from the Tennessee #300 pipeline, the gas will […]
Déjà Vu All Over Again… Read More »
A primer for getting the most you can from eminent domain The Constitution Pipeline repeats the Marcy South power line experience in that hundreds of land owners in Delaware County will lose control of parts of their property for inadequate compensation — even though the project is of little benefit to residents. Unwilling owners will
Constitutional Confiscation? Read More »
The proposed Constitution Pipeline would carry gas from the Marcellus gas fields of Pennsylvania to the intersection of the Tennessee #200 and the Iroquois pipelines in the Town of Wright, Schoharie County, NY. For more information in this issue of The New Franklin Register, see: Constitutional Confiscation? Déjà Vu All Over Again
Timeline: Constitution Pipeline Read More »
Residents of the hamlet of Treadwell have reached agreement with the Delhi Board of Education to transfer to the Town of Franklin the fields, playground, and tennis courts on the flood plain behind the new school building. These fifteen-plus acres would come with $920,000 to be put in trust for related expenses. The school property
Park Progress in Treadwell Read More »
The Northeast Exchange Project (almost half again the size of the Millennium Pipeline) would run through Franklin itself and neighboring towns — if Route B is approved. The Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company wants to build this line between two of its existing west-to-east natural gas pipelines: the Tennessee Pipeline #300 in Pennsylvania south of the
Once upon a time in the far kingdom of Albany, the Division of Mineral Resources was required to write a guidance document on how to drill safely: the GEIS of 1992. (From its beginning, DMN had been charged with only maximizing production, minimizing waste, and protecting the rights of lease holders and land owners.) However,
(Weird) Tales of Albany Read More »
Last year, the New York State Department of Transportation studied traffic running through the intersection of Routes 357 and 28 at the bottom of Franklin Mountain. In the last decade, there were 35 accidents (excluding collisions with deer) — ten times the accident rate at similar intersections. Contributing to these accidents is the limited visibility
It was best of roads, it was the worst of roads. Sanly Road runs some three miles from near the eastern end of Franklin Depot Road northward up the hill and then down five hundred feet to the middle of Merrickville Road. From Franklin Depot Road, it is a broad dirt road for 0.2 miles
A Tale of Two Sanlys Read More »
Reluctant Regulator The oil and gas industry in New York State is only barely regulated. The Division of Mineral Resources (DMN) of the Department of Environmental Conservation is using regulations written largely in 1972, shortly after it was created. The only new regulations since then were written in 1986, dealing with the unusually high gas
New York is a state with strong home rule. Here local governments (county, town, and city/village) are granted broad powers to govern themselves. Under Article IX of our State Constitution as implemented by Municipal Home Rule Law, they can set up their own system of governing and ordinances. State approval is unnecessary, subject to excluding
Home Rule Over Gas Drilling Read More »
The Treadwell Park The Franklin Village park, our first park in the town of Franklin, is less than a year old, and already there is talk of a second park in the hamlet of Treadwell. This park would be cut from the approximately 22 acres of school property by dividing it into two parcels after
Keeping Up With the Franklins Read More »
A Cautionary Tale A new species of predator prowls our hills, stalking the unwary. They hunger not for your flesh, but for your signature. They’re called Landmen, and they want your land for gas drilling. They will try to get it for as little as possible: for as little money and as little protection for
