Prepare now for drilling

July 06, 2009 07:54 am

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In Boy Scouts, the motto is "Be prepared." It's an important maxim to instill in young Scouts, especially as they often spend time in the wilderness. There, despite the best of planning, the unexpected and undesirable will happen, and you can't avoid dealing with it. Prepared Scouts are able to handle almost any situation with poise, sense and smarts.

When it comes to natural-gas drilling, our area counties are going to have emulate the Boy Scouts. Sure, there may be delays and strict conditions put on drilling in the Marcellus shale. But most likely, it's going to happen. In other words, this isn't NYRI, an all-or-nothing situation that required no compromise from opponents.

Therefore, counties, towns and private citizens need to be prepared and vigilant in protecting their rights, land and water before drilling companies arrive. In Otsego County on Wednesday, two area citizens made compelling arguments for what that preparation should entail.

They suggested mapping aquifers in the county and testing roads, and doing so before drilling begins. That way, they said, officials will have records to compare if roads or water are damaged by drilling.

We find their suggestions to be a good start. As other officials noted, trying to force the drilling companies to pay upfront for road use has no guarantee of success and would likely be a costly effort. And making individuals conduct their own testing could prove cost-prohibitive.

This, of course, doesn't mean towns won't face their own financial issues in testing water and roads. To that end, we suggest that the county and its municipalities work together, finding where efforts can be coordinated and money saved. We also encourage creative negotiations with any drilling companies, as perhaps some payments or assurances can be made even if total coverage is not feasible.

For instance, companies are likely to balk at paying for the right to use roads. But perhaps they'll agree to pay for the cost of testing, pre- and post-drilling, any town or county roads they use. It'll save area governments money and provide evidence of the impact of drilling operations.

That's just one idea, and there are many more discussions to be had. But that's the point, and not just in Otsego County. With thousands of gas leases signed and major chunks of land optioned off, we can't wait until drilling is in our backyards to talk about "what if?"

Now is the time to prepare for our safety and prosperity, and that of generations to come.