The people of Candor value their small town atmosphere. On a
sunny day you can walk around the Village in less than an hour – including
pauses to enjoy the views of the river, listen to birds, or stop by the farmer’s
market to buy locally grown produce and locally crafted wares. It’s the sort of
town where “children are cherished and raised to be good citizens, where
businesses are responsible to their neighborhoods, where government is
responsive to its citizenry and where neighbors strive to maintain the civility
that a rural life requires.”
It is the sort of town that seeks to balance a “logical and
efficient use” of natural resources with the desire to protect open space,
historical sites, agricultural soils, and the aquifer which supplies everyone
with fresh water.
At least it was until last week. On November 10 the town
board voted to radically change wording of the proposed update to the Town Comprehensive
Plan, the document that will guide development for the next decade or so. Prior
to the board meeting, town supervisor Bob Riggs called the chairman of the
planning board Art Cacciola into his office and insisted that language in the
comprehensive plan be changed to specifically include development of oil and
gas resources and, in particular, express support for the technology of
fracking.
Cacciola explained that the plan needs to be generic and not
that specific, as no one knows what technology will be available in the future.
He also explained that the plan did not specifically name any natural resources,
as advised by the Executive Director of the NY Planning Federation.
Furthermore, Cacciola said, “the Executive Director said we should not include
anything in the plan which is currently illegal, such as fracking.”
Apparently the town supervisor is as immune to common sense
and sound advice as he is to comments from the public. That evening, after
inserting his own language into the Comprehensive Plan, Riggs asked the town board to approve
the newer, frackier version supporting gas extraction. [He also told Cacciola
that he’d no longer be chairman of the planning board and asked for his
resignation. Cacciola declined and intends to serve out his term.]
Later in the evening Riggs used the new, fracked-up version
of the Comprehensive Plan to justify approval of a resolution supporting the industrialized drilling and LPG fracking of a well in the town of Barton.
Just as happened at the October town board meeting, a
majority of the people who showed up to comment were against the gas-fracking
resolution. “It was clear that the public comments were just for show,” said
one person (who asked not to be identified). “They knew they were going to vote
for the resolution.”
“My biggest concern,” said the Candor resident, “is the vast
amount of scientific evidence that this activity (industrialized gas drilling
and fracking) is dangerous to human health and the environment. Our town board
is not seriously considering that evidence. I feel that we’re being railroaded
by people who have made up their minds and are not willing to look at new
research.”
And herein lies the problem. Many of those who spoke against
the fracking resolution are the same age as the children of the town board
members. They are the young people who are buying homes and farms in town, who
are coming back to raise families of their own. They want a safe, healthy place
for their children to grow up, like the town they knew. And no one is listening
to them.
