Bryant La Tourette
Chenango County, New York Businessman and Landowner
The people of Upstate New York are rejecting fractivist agendas, but Gov. Cuomo just stands there, paralyzed with fear, while they wonder where to go to get their business back.
The elections are over; results are in. The people have spoken and almost all candidates running on the anti-gas platform in Chenango County failed to be elected. It was a hard fought battle. Most towns had record breaking turnouts. In the end, the people spoke, as it should be. Most folks who voted took time to investigate and weigh both the assertions and the facts. It was a case of fear of poisoned water and devastation of the land vs. the facts and an appreciation that the state and a few court cases will determine the path and direction of development with respect to our mineral rich subsurface. Logic and facts prevailed.
Cuomo Void in Leadership Has Left Divided Communities
The sad side of this whole battle is the debris trail that has been left behind; not just a few divided communities but something that will not heal for decades to come.
Let’s say you have a company and you want to pursue a dream that America offers to everyone, the right of free enterprise. You have a widget that is both highly desirable and already approved for sale based on existing law. You seek investors and you and they move forward based on good faith to make a difference, creating jobs and building something everyone would benefit from; a company that needed no subsidies or tax abatement our grants, a true enterprise built built on your own raw entrepreneurial talent. Your supply and support chain brings new businesses to life and creates activity for existing businesses. You hire local youths for both blue and white-collar positions. You and your employees pay huge taxes in support of our schools, villages, towns and county. Your royalty payments help keep farms in business.
A Norse Energy Well (Photo by Syracuse.com)
Then one day, you, as president of that company, receive a letter that states your production must be put on indefinite hold due to rumors and speculation. The drum beat stops, and your first reaction is wonder how long will this hold last. You are told months. Your company, through no fault of its own, is forced to cut staff. The support businesses do the same. Some who had made huge investments based on a bright future now have no recourse but to shut their doors. Eventually, all that was built is soon gone, creating great losses and contributing to new poverty as bank loans are defaulted and properties are abandoned for taxes.
Rumors dominate. Mailbox and soap box fear mongers and carpetbaggers with no real stake in the matter toss out propaganda saying “The widgets were going to poison us and take away our babies.” Out come the pitch forks and torches. You and your supporters are now the subjects of a modern day witch hunt.
Cuomo Inaction A Stake Through the Heart of Free Enterprise
This story sound like a bad fairy tale, but it is not. This is the story of what has happened to a group of entrepreneurs and private investors who formed a company that started as Nornew and then became Norse Energy. The company has become the victim of an attack on free enterprise by a Governor. Its investors employees and supply business have become an extension of the debris trail. Landowners who had unencumbered deeds with mineral rights have had their minerals seized with no reduction in the taxes for taking what was their deeded correlative rights.
Special interest groups seized on the opportunity to exploit the fear, taking it to a new level above and beyond the Y2K fiasco (remember how life as we know it was supposed to end in a gigantic grid shut-down?). Ignorance paved the way for opportunists who saw a moment to get much needed attention. They urged municipalities to ban opportunity based on unsubstantiated fears; what was no more than speculation and baseless assertions. They convinced a few weak municipalities that the state would not protect them.
Some leaders fell prey to these opportunists, while others invested in educating themselves. This lead the latter to the proposed state regulations and the DSGEIS, which answered their concerns. The educated leaders let the experts do what they do best. It was time to return to focusing on issues that are within their control. The now educated municipal leaders understand the issue is in the hands of the state and courts.
Gov. Cuomo Should Write the Check for the Business He’s Destroyed
Much has been learned during that “temporary” hold that has now turned into over 5 ½ years of delay and nonfeasance. The fear mongers still show up to municipal meetings, but have lost the ability to capture the spot light. But they will be back; maybe their next agenda will be to build a shield over the town to protect us from space debris or the inevitable collapse of the universe. Who knows? But this I do know; Norse Energy believed in our area and, while I might not have agreed with everything they did, and was quite vocal about some of their landman tactics, I learned a valuable lesson; you cannot save people from themselves, and I’m not talking about Norse.
I attended a town board meeting this past Wednesday and one of the board members asked how much of an impact on our budget would result from Norse’s taxes that will now never be paid? The reply was that it is a tax impact that is being felt county wide. Maybe that tax bill should be sent to the Governor and have him pay it from his personal account? Maybe he can get a loan? Or, would the bill exceed his personal assets? Would the banks turn him down? Would he be faced with auctioning off his assets? How would he deal with lowering his standard of living? Would he then be at risk of bankruptcy?
You know, this article pretty much sums up my experience in Upstate New York. In the spring of 2008 while still in the process organizing my new venture which quickly gained a nod from a Billion Dollar Hedge Fund to the tune of $50,000,000 in initial acquisition funding, I set out own my own to investigate the Marcellus Shale. Of course by then, many companies had been in the area for more than a minute so I asked our geologist to take a look at Broome County, New York. After careful study, it was agreed that it held great potential so the decision was made to get in front of the play and compete with the likes of Chesapeake and XTO. I gave my acquisition crew one principle to focus on, “help, in some way, ever landowner you contact.
You see, after watching the Barnett Shale explosion in Texas for several years, I felt it was important to educate the landowners of Upstate as to what they could expect in the coming months and years. I still remember the day I was unpacking my luggage at the my hotel in downtown Binghamton. I turned on my TV to get a taste of the local news while I unpacked and heard something like “local landowner lights faucet on fire, story at 6.” I have to be honest here, I had never actually heard of such a thing and couldn’t wait to hear to full story. My initial thought was “we must be in the right place, the stuff has so much pressure it’s seeping out of the ground.” I did some quick checking on drilling in the area (mainly just to see if there were unleased mineral rights available in the area) and found out there hadn’t been a well drilled anywhere near the home where the incident had happened.
I don’t believe we heard much more about this as we began our leasing program but we were confronted daily with Landowner’s concerns about the environmental impact that developing the Marcellus Shale would bring to the area. I’m sure that some of you reading this probably attended one of my talks (seems I can be a bit long winded when I am passionate about an idea) where myself or other members of our team would talk about the process of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. It seemed that the initial concerns of most people were the amount of water used in the process. Water is a very important commodity to us humans and I had spoken on the subject on several occasions to Landowner’s in Texas where the Barnett Play was ever expanding into new rural communities as we would often use existing farm ponds or “tanks” to suit our needs (we would usually drill water wells to keep these sources from getting to low as many people were very proud of their fishing holes and water sources for their livestock. We don’t get a lot of rain in Texas so it was a valid concern down here.
Upstate New York was a completely different situation. We had to river sources coming together in the Delaware River Basin and it was obvious that more of it was running into the bay than we could ever use even if we had 100 drilling rigs running full time. As far as the impact to the surface area needed for drilling, we had started drilling multiple wells from one pad which was allowing us to tap into several square miles of shale from one location. This process was literally reducing the surface impact from old drilling techniques by 80%. Having been in the industry for several decades and participated in the drilling of literally thousands of wells with very minor environmental mishaps, I never really worried about trying to hide anything from the landowners, what would we hide, we were bringing the latest and greatest, most environmentally friendly technologies the industry had to offer. My greatest concern really was protecting the landowners from each other.
You see, having been in acquisition end of the industry for some 30 odd years, I had seen many cases where one landowner would step up and tell all his neighbors that they would be wise to let them handle the lease negotiations for them and then those “good ole boy” neighbors would call us and say, “hey, I have the inside track on a few thousand acres surrounding my land and I can get everyone to lease to you.” Of course these conversations always made their way to, “I’ll get them to sign with you for a $X per acre fee.” You see I have a lot of friends in the industry and I know how much one of these neighbors made off of getting people to sign with XTO. I also know that that was money that could have gone to the landowners themselves. I watched as groups of landowners formed into “coalitions” to protect each other and insure everyone got a fair shake and a good lease. I had many opportunities to speak to some of these coalitions and always made sure they weren’t out to profit from their neighbors before we would even consider negotiating with them. Many were very valid and helpful where a few remained suspect to me.
I say all of this so that you understand what my concerns were as President and CEO of a company seeking to develop the Marcellus Shale in Upstate. I never worried about being able to actually get a permit to drill or being attacked by uninformed NIMBY’s as we had the truth on our side. Literally thousands upon thousands of wells had been drilled, hydraulic fracturing wasn’t anything new, the only thing new was that we were able to produce areas that otherwise wouldn’t be commercially viable and we were now able to do it with less surface damage. When that day in July 2008 came and the announcement was made that the DEC needed 90 days to update their regulations to protect the landowners and the land from excess environmental impact, I was certain that it was due to the landowners concerns and what the heck, if the state put all these regulations in place, the landowners would feel more protected and our job would get easier, right. I mean what’s three months in the scheme of things.
Even though we were still setting up our own fund to accept the initial $50,000,000 in acquisition money, turns out when dealing with a “fund of funds” you literally have to set up your own fund to receive and manage them, I felt confident enough to pay a couple of landowners (that had a pretty specific need to be paid) out of essentially my own pocket. Knowing that I would be reimbursed soon enough, it seemed the neighborly thing to do. Then the financial crisis hit us like a ton of bricks, funding quickly disappeared, people were scrambling to pay lease bonuses, we quickly found other sources although temporary and still thought, lets just get through this 90 day period. At one point, my company was on the verge of being backed to the tune of $1,300,000,000 to develop Upstate New York. I believe that was when the SGEIS was certain to be released in November of 2010, might have been 2009 (the years seem to run together at this point don’t they?) but it’s Saturday and I’m just at my computer venting and don’t have the info in front of me. I even formed a partnership with a few other friends and bought land with mineral rights in Broome and Delaware Counties, certain the investments were going to be well worth it in just a short time.
Over the last five years and 4 months, I’ve been on a few rollercoaster rides. I’ve watched many landowners who have become my friends in the area suffer and struggle. People have been forced to sell their land while others have barely kept their heads above the water. I no longer expect science and reality to govern events in Upstate New York. I suspect corruption in the governor’s office is the real culprit although I’ve come to despise people like Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Mark Ruffalo, Dave Matthews and even David Letterman for using their celebrity to promote ignorance just so that they may appear to care about an issue. I would probably physically assault Josh Fox if I saw him on the Courthouse Square and I truly think that if Andrew Cuomo runs for President, his campaign in Texas could resemble the great John F. Kennedy’s. Not that he has anything in common with JFK at this point. The battle in New York has been very emotional for many, it has created more distrust in government, turned citizen against citizen, neighbor against neighbor and has given us a good look at a socialist urban society can effect the personal rights and freedoms of hardworking American landowners.
Respectfully,
Dean Lowry
President
LLAMAHDT
Thank you, Dean, for this excellent information!
Hope this will be reversed Dean for your company and all the people whoms land is there future
Dean,
Their are many businesses that were starting up. Businesses like yours and many that were service related. The chamber of commerce early on ran a series from Penn state. Business opportunity that surrounds the harvesting of natural gas. From hot dog stands to Fac water recycling.
One of our old hotel was purchased and fixed up based on opportunity.
This was all new revenue.Private investment. I was the second coalition to start in NYS next to deposit. We had a few guys fly in from Texas representing Boon Pickens. They were ready to take a look at our coalition maps and were talking figures from the Barnett shale.
A few of us formed a company to bring Natural Gas to the Raymond Corp. The company had stated that NY either supply them with Natural Gas or they might think about leaving. We met with the group at Raymonds with the chamber of commerce.We had contractors from excavation to drilling in attendance. The energy figures at that time in savings were over $200 thousand a year. This was before their high energy use painting booths. Their was no government involvement just entrepreneurs doing what we do best. We all had the vision of becoming part of a service that would help all. After the third delay from NY the investors left. One of the investors was from PA had a great story. His families gravel and blue stone mines had fallen on hard times. He started a real-estate company and began subdividing his 5000 acres. Even that wasn’t working. Then a company rep stopped in his office and expressed interest in leasing his 5000 acres. In less than 60 days his world changed. He now has several water companies. His gravel and blue stone mines are booming again. He flew in to see us in his new twin turbo jet. He invested back into his area and kept the family business going. That is pride at its highest level.
NYS give away and welfare prize money of 81 billion announced last week for the grant requests could have been matched just by local contributions and tax revenue. It is disheartening to know how many areas would have been lifted. How many youth would still be close to their families and not have to move to find work.
I can go on for pages.
Here is one last story.
A friend of mine has four children all 19 to 26. His business is getting by. I asked how the kids were. He said they are doing fine. I hear from them once a month. They have all moved to North Carolina. The one son that took interest in his business just left to be with his brother. He sees not real opportunity here and sees how we struggle to pay bills.
This means at some point the business will either be sold or just shut down. Both my children have collage degrees, one lives in Florida and the other is thinking of Georgia or Florida. I am a second generation Business owner. There will be no third! This is a common story. My business once employed 23 full time over two shifts. Today I have 6 and just getting by. We need leaders in our state true business people that worked in the laymen s world. Not generational nepotism.
Mr. Lowry ;
I truly empathize with your plight – we in NY have run up against the sequestered academics and hollywood elite who believe that they and they alone understand the human experience – strolling through 15 million dollar mansions and the glorious buildings of academia one gets a true feel of the human fabric – not like a dairy farmer who gets up at 5 every morning and puts in a 14 hour day – but I digress
Unfortunately, the masses buy into this (I am going to die from drowning from global warming, a meteor is going to hit, the earth magnetic fields are going to flip , yellowstone is going to explode , the canary islands are going to collapse and cause a tsunami, gamma waves are going to bombard the earth) I am not certain of the answer .
I live near Dryden and what I see is a group of small minds – much like hobbits in the shire that cant see anything beyond the garden in their front yard
Part of me says we should simply say to these communities great – you are against fracking your natural gas will cost ten times more – libs only respond when their wallet is threatened.
We have a politician in Dryden that was elected because she wanted to see the green views driving to and from work. Now mind you its all the farmers that have to pay for her green view and she doesn’t contribute a nickel but as a true liberal she has a no problem with making policy when someone else pays for it
I was going to start going to Dryden town meetings i was going to congratulate them on their stance on fracking then i was going to say we need to be proactive about global warming i was going to propose a large umbrella that we could use to shade dryden the next meeting i was going to propose that we put giant springs on the umbrella so we could bounce back any meteors that hit – I mean afterall something could happen otherwise. The next meeting i was going to suggest to put the umbrella on a universal joint so we could swing it to the side to prevent a tsunami – the next meeting i was going to point out that the umbrella woudl prevent the ash from yellowstone explosion covering us the next meeting i was going to propose the umbrella with lead to prevent gamma ray bombardment of dryded – I mean after all one cant be too cautious about these things
God its entertaining living here !
Dean
We met in 2008 in A 3 bay garage on Sapbush Rd. in Chenango Forks, Jm Ward and myself started the Sapbush Road Group, pro gas landowners some hoping to get rich, most just looking to secure their future on the back of the shale gas opportunity presented to them. Many people against gas drilling don’t know this but landowners in NY including Dryden & Middlefield have been signing leases for oil & gas for over 100 years. What’s the problem what’s changed? The liberals are using the power of the internet, social media, and Hollywood to lie. Lets not call it mis information it’s past that … They are lying and there proud of it. Stopping Natural Gas is not what it is about, for these liars it is a power game, political roulette. They don’t give A damn about the environment they make it a sport to see how much they can control others using a computer and the cause of the moment and right now NG is in the moment.
A lot has changed since we first met, Jim died 2 days after attending an anti gas meeting with me, Jim was very upset that people could believe these liars and fall for there fear mongering. Transgendered babies, goats with two heads, breast cancer & nose bleeds. cattle giving birth to Martian babies’ the lies get bigger at every meeting. NY has robbed its residents of the American dream’ and those who dared dream it out loud were called greedy landowners by Loco Ono & John Lennon and Josh Fox. Since when has wanting to earn a living or exploiting a gift like NG under their land to make life easier to live bad in any country or state?
I know how you feel about dealing out justice to these liars. I truly wish the oil & gas companies would shut off NY. Not to force a decision but because if over 20 million people lost their fossil fuels and it was said because like we have heard so many times before { New York doesn’t want it } Then these lying low life hypocrites might be held accountable for there actions
Vic, I’m sorry to hear about Jim. I think it is important for the “real” people of Upstate New York to know that this isn’t an issue anywhere else in the United States. Every once in a while, there will be a mishap as happens with any business (especially those that are booming) and you will hear some EnviroNut proclaim that the sky is falling but these stories never get any traction or are seldom even considered newsworthy anywhere other than New York it seems. We get to hear a few stories from time to time about some Graduate Student that has decided to write his thesis on the horrible dangers of hydraulic fracturing only to find they don’t exist and that the had been duped by the environmental lobby. Funny they never publish these findings in their anti-drilling campaign literature.
I can assure you that if I had the power to do so, I would shut off the natural gas flow to Albany and New York City today. My only demand to turn it back on would be an instant vote on who would like to see drilling in New York begin immediately. Vote yes, get your gas turned back on, vote no, I’ll send you the blueprints to build your own wind turbine. Of course some of use know that these can’t even be constructed without the use of hydrocarbons (EnviroNuts seem to completely miss that detail). Governor Cuomo is truly insane to have failed to show leadership in this area. He will never be seen as anything more than a Corrupt New York Politician. I truly hope that the landowners in New York can organize enough to be rid of him in the next election.
Regards,
Dean Lowry
President
LLAMAHDT
Dean: Thank you for your letter and insight. We are NY landowners, albeit small, in Broome County and are at the near end of our ability to stay on the land and farm we created. It is truly a spot we never thought we would be in – move to Pennsylvania if we can try to find somewhere, where most people are more reasonable. At least those we hang with. It is totally unbelievable to me that we “should” no longer be proud of harvesting our own resources, something that is basic to every civilization. How do people allow themselves to be thus influenced? We had so hoped that our potential lease and those for our neighbors would have allowed all of us to continue to afford to live in our homes and maintain our land.
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