Statement on Hydrofracking

THE NEGATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL, ECONOMIC AND AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS OF HYDROFRACKING ON THE VILLAGE OF COOPERSTOWN, NEW YORK

The Village of Cooperstown’s Board of Trustees is extremely concerned about the negative environmental, economic and agricultural consequences of hydrofracking on the long-term safety of our water supply and our economic future in New York State. The Village of Cooperstown is a major, national and international tourist destination in the United States. It was through the writings of the world famous novelist James Fenimore Cooper (of the founding family of Cooperstown), almost 200 years ago, that many people around the world first came to know and love the lands and lakes of the Cooperstown area, New York State, and the United States of America. Cooperstown is inextricably interconnected with the overall environmental, economic and agricultural infrastructure of the State of New York.
Otsego Lake, the headwaters of the entire Susquehanna River basin, is the source of drinking water for all those within the Village of Cooperstown and some outside our boundaries. It is a limited, clean, natural resource that requires our highest level of attention and protection. The concerns of the Village of Cooperstown also extend beyond our own water supply and boundaries to all of New York State. Hydrofracking poses potential threats to our pristine, but not unlimited water supply and the quiet, rural, farm friendly, safe and healthy quality of life that we all now enjoy.
The Village of Cooperstown, and the surrounding area, has hundreds of millions of dollars of long term investment at risk of collapse if hydrofracking comes to New York State. The economic devastation to our historic Village and our world class attractions; the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, The Farmers’ Museum, the Fenimore Art Museum, the Glimmerglass Festival, the historic Otesaga Resort Hotel, Bassett Healthcare Network, and Otsego Lake would be incalculable. Our losses would far exceed, by orders of magnitude, the completely unsubstantiated potential gains put forth by the gas drilling industry and its supporters.

Cooperstown does not and cannot exist on its own. We have to look toward, and protect, our long term survival and growth within the State of New York. That is a very formidable task that only becomes more difficult with the addition of gas drilling. No one should assume that tourists will drive three hours or more through heavy truck traffic, closed local businesses, spoiled scenery, fouled air and relentless noise to get to Cooperstown and other regions of New York State for a day or a week, only to have to suffer through the same ordeal on their trip back home.
If the Village of Cooperstown were to become surrounded by gas drilling fields in New York State, we would fall away from our country’s list of best places to visit, live, and invest. Many people who now live in and around our Village and in Upstate New York may decide to leave New York State. It would not take much then, for the Village of Cooperstown, and large parts of New York State, to go into a permanent recession. We believe that hydrofracking is incompatible with a bright, new, clean water, high quality of life, tourist friendly, high tech, agricultural and renewable energy future for Upstate New York. The Board of Trustees of the Village of Cooperstown, New York unanimously supports all efforts to stop natural gas drilling and hydrofracking in New York State.

Please download the Document:  Village of Cooperstown NY – Statement on Hydrofracking