In the March 24, 2010 issue of the Walton Reporter, published in Walton, NY, a report on the March meeting of the Colchester town board read as follows, in part:
Harry “Sonny” Triebe Sr., the owner of Sonny and Son Stone Company in Downsville told the Colchester Town council last week that he recently attended a convention in Texas and paid a visit to DISH, Texas, where the Barnett shale formation is being tapped for natural gas. Triebe said his interest in the Texas community was piqued after the DISH mayor spoke about natural gas development at a recent meeting at Downsville Central School.
Mayor Calvin Tillman had been in the Southern Tier region to alert residents of the pitfalls that development of the Marcellus shale formation may result in and to provide recommendations and proposed regulations for dealing with developers.
Triebe, who is the brother-in-law of Colchester Supervisor Robert Homovich, said Tillman had said property values had gone down and DISH residents were unable to sell their homes. “There’s a new development on the other side of the road from DISH,” Triebe said. “He told us there was no building going on, that the market was despicable, that people couldn’t sell their homes.”
Triebe said the residents he spoke to said the value of their homes had gone down due to the placement of compressor stations and pipelines in their backyards, but, “The thing that makes these people unhappy is that they bought these homes five years ago, and this stuff went in three years ago, and the developer knew it was going to happen and didn’t tell them.”
Triebe also said he found no evidence of a smell emanating from the gas wells. “We traveled all the way around DISH, Texas and I didn’t smell a thing, ” he said. He said he also stopped his car alongside a compressor station, and “I didn’t hear a thing.”
Triebe also showed a picture of installed gas lines. “(Tillman) showed us a picture of pipes all over the guy’s yard, does this look like a mess to you?”
Triebe also criticized Tillman for what he didn’t tell the concerned residents at the Downsville meeting.
“I found out that they pay no school taxes,” Triebe said, “and in the three-county area, their kids can go to college in Denton for the first year for free, and it’s all because of this gas drilling and the Barnett shale.”
Triebe said the motel he stayed at in downtown Fort Worth had a drilling rig in the backyard, as well. “If you closed the window in the room we were in, you heard nothing,” he added.
Tags: Colchester, DISH, school taxes, Texas
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