Throughout much of the Marcellus Shale region in NY and PA, landowners have joined together to form landowner coalitions. Merriam-Webster defines a coalition as: a temporary alliance of distinct parties, persons, or states for joint action. While many coalitions have moved past the whole “temporary” part, none have lost their drive for action.

Over the last few weeks I have had the opportunity to meet with many of these groups, listening to their stories, concerns and plans but, most of all, putting faces to the names. Going forward, we at EID will highlight specific coalitions on a weekly basis, giving you the opportunity to learn more about each of them.

For the introductory post, I would like to highlight the Steuben County Land Owners Coalition (SCLOC) which has over 5,000 members representing 185,000 acres of land. I had the opportunity to meet with this group last week and I am impressed by the organization and dedication they show towards Natural Gas. They have several active committees including Public Relations, Political Action, Executive, and a Steering Committee with 40 active participants.

Check their calendar regularly as they are planning a number of positive events.  As with any coalition fighting for natural gas development, the SLCOC members continue to volunteer time and energy to write editorials and blog post, organize events, and sometimes even attend anti-gas events to ensure a balanced message is heard.

Before I end this highlight, I want to thank the members of the SCLOC who attended the event in Painted Post, NY, last week. Here is a more specific post on it. Venturing into the heart of an anti-gas presentation by Dr. Ingreffea and the Dimock bunch, the SCLOC, alongside the JLCNY and members of Enough Already! – a group from PA – stood up for natural gas development. The attendees took every opportunity to ask fair questions of the presenters and even made themselves available to the media and newspapers for interviews. Their courage should be a point of inspiration for every coalition going forward.

FYI -Steuben County is located in the middle of New York State’s Southern Tier.