ARCADE, NY — “I asked the Wyoming County Soil and Conservation office to look at my hay field. Its agent described the damage caused by the drillers in a blistering five-page report. At last, I had some hope that the drilling company would do the right thing and offer to pay for removal of the toxic wastes covering my hay field. Nope. The company did not move. And the county has no legal authority to force drillers to fix anything.
Then, to my surprise, an engineering firm hired by the drillers stopped by. His conclusion agreed with the Wyoming County study. My hay field was ruined by the company’s own drillers. The engineer’s recommendation: Build a storm retention pond and release the water slowly through the new roadway. The storm water retention pond was never built.
Finally it dawned on me. No one would help me. Not the drilling company. Not the Oil and Gas Association that represents the drilling company. Not my own town government, not even the state agency that gave the driller a license to ruin my hay field.”
— John Peters letter to the editor, The Buffalo News
