Tuesday, April 30, 2013

What If They Held a Public Hearing . . .

and nobody came? It happened Monday afternoon when the Common Council held a hearing on the proposed "fracking law." 

Council president Don Moore was there, flanked by city attorney Cheryl Roberts and Kim Goetz sitting in for city clerk Tracy Delaney. Of the ten aldermen, only Nick Haddad (First Ward) and Cappy Pierro (Fifth Ward) showed up. In the audience, there was Cheryl Stuart, representing Citizens in Defense of Hudson; Joe Gentile, of the Register-Star; and Lee Gould, who arrived five minutes late and missed it all; and Gossips.

After Moore reviewed the current status of the proposed law and the outcome of reviews by the Columbia County Planning Board and the City of Hudson Planning Commission, he invited public comment. The only person to speak was Stuart, who voiced two objections: the fines written into the law were not high enough to be a serious deterrent; the law did not address remediation. She then explained that there were more objections but too many to enumerate. She submitted written comments.

The Common Council will vote on adopting the law at its next regular meeting on Tuesday, May 21.

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