June 16, 2010

Dear Landowners: 

The political action committee has been stressing contact by landowners to Albany to VOTE NO ON THE Thompson Bill asking for an extension on the Moratorium on issuing drilling permits!  Please do what you can to email, phone or write letters to our elected official and tell them IT'S TIME TO MOVE NOW ON DRILLING IN NYS!  The joint landowners coalition site has a great list of contact, and talking points for support and reasoning to MOVE DRILLING NOW in New York State. 

We have been attending meetings with the Joint Landowners Coalition and would ask all members to visit the JLCNY site to review, sign in for shared information and visit for updates.  The Joint Landowners Coalition will be gathering support of many coalitions across the state to keep the effort moving forward to start drilling in NYS as quickly as possible. http://www.jlcny.org   The Joint Landowners coalition is taking donations from various coalitions from across NYS to help with the promotion and awareness of drilling issues on a local and political level.  Please visit their site and if you are interested, there is a place on the website where ya donation can be made to help the drilling cause in New York State. 

Please visit the website of filmmaker Aaron Price at www.gasodyssey.com   Mr. Price tells the story of a struggling community whose future could be dramatically improved if natural gas development were permitted in New York's Marcellus Shale.  The film chronicles the struggles of upstate New Yorkers facing economic hardships and how the production of natural gas in their backyards could dramatically improve their lives.  There is a link at the bottom of Aaron's site to watch a trailer of the film.  The Steuben County Landowners Coalition will schedule a preview of the film in the near future. 

 Please take the time to visit the National Association of Royalty Landowners sites at http://www.naro-us.org  There is a open letter to the residents of New York State on their home page.  This letter is excellent reading!  We will post this link on the SCLOC.com and SCHUYLERLOC.org websites.   

We have been working on positioning all of our groups!  New York State is getting closer each day with permitting, but as of yet, we do not have a firm date.  We are working on a series of update and informational meetings of coalition members will be scheduled over the spring/summer to update landowners on developments on leasing, and economic opportunities and resources in the area to being to prepare landowners for substantial and windfall income when drilling begins.  Many issues surrounding, taxes, investments, estate and future planning and sound economic futures will be presented by some of the areas finest banks and investment firms. 

 GREAT NEWS FOR THE FUTURE:    Please visit the Corning Community College website and Pennsylvania College of Technology for training available in the natural gas industry, and for Marcellus Shale Education and Training.  Many opportunities for future jobs and careers in the natural gas industry will begin right here.   For Corning Community College:   http://www.corning-cc.edu/ 

For Pennsylvania College of Technology:   http://www.pct.edu/msetc/

Thank you

Mary Hickey & Nicole Gwardyak, Empire Energy Consultants LLC