| Notes from a lifetime in music
There are no immediate plans to reduce or eliminate the maintenance assessment enacted in 2009 by the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District. As for fracking on district lands, Executive Director John Hoopingarner said they"ve built protections into the leases that put in place hard-line rules agreed to by out-of-state megafirms like Chesapeake Energy or Gulfport Energy. Their beef comes from two activities the district has engaged in: " The leasing of mineral rights on or under district land to oil and gas drillers who plan to use the controversial horizontal hydraulic fracturing technique to unlock fossil fuels from a geological formation known as the Utica Shale, and " The sale of millions of gallons of water from the district"s man-made lakes to drillers for use in the fracking process. However, the court only has supervisory authority, such as approving a per gallon cost, over long-term water deals, said Edward O"Farrell, of Tuscarawas County. "We don"t have any authority to involve ourselves as a division court in the short-term sales," the presiding judge said, referring to the statutory power that the district invoked in the Gulfport deal. Conservation director Sean Logan, a frequent target of the protesters" ire, argued the district"s multi-billion gallon reservoirs provided a water source more suitable for large withdrawals than rivers or streams. Jim Pringle, the district"s attorney, noted they have a statutory duty and precedents in policy that direct them to at least consider proposals for the "beneficial use" of reservoir water, which will include for industrial purposes. Hoopingarner said during a break at the district"s annual meeting Saturday that they would consider reducing the assessment, but he wouldn"t commit to doing so until the had a better idea what sort of revenues they could expect from future lease bonuses and royalties at the wells that already have been approved but not built. "If there was a surplus, it would be irresponsible of us to not consider a reduction on the assessment," he said. But many of those who had gathered in opposition said they weren"t persuaded by these arguments. Allen Schwartz, with a guitar slung across his shoulders, said what it boiled down to was the permanent loss of water from the watershed. Two deals signed this year will provide upfront payments of more than $22 million. The Gulfport money was turned into a healthy carryover, plus it erased $5. 5 million that has been allocated to renovating district facilities, including upgrades to campgrounds. On the horizon, Logan told the judges he expects Cadiz, which has an intake facility at Tappan Lake that serves as the village"s primary water source, will ask for the volume of water in their contract to be expanded. Protesters hoped to highlight "the hypocrisy of the conservancy district not actually being about conservancy," said Josh Harris, a Mount Vernon resident and member of anti-fracking group the Stewards of the Land. Most residential property owners pay $12, but some landowners with parking lots or buildings with large roofs pay up to $132 per acre. The assessment, which raised $10. During their presentation inside the courthouse, district administration summarized their defense. In all, Hoopingarner said a preliminary review of the district"s facilities and infrastructure has found $80 million worth of work needed. At least 30 protesters had gathered in front of the Tuscarawas County Courthouse on Saturday to voice their displeasure with the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District"s dealings with oil and gas drillers, "frackers" as the assembled often called them. Inside at their annual meeting, leadership was recapping the state of the district, a public entity that owns and maintains 14 dams, their resulting reservoirs and the parks and campgrounds that surround them. "The standard oil and gas lease is two pages long," he told the judges. Several who addressed the court in opposition to the fracking-related activities accused district leadership of greed.
. |
Monday, 4 June 2012
Notes from a lifetime in music
