CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

BINGHAMTON -- Broome County officials continued to negotiate with organizers behind closed doors Thursday, but a deal to host the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's final public meeting on its hydraulic fracturing study remained elusive.

Deputy County Executive Darcy Fauci said Broome officials held a conference call Thursday with meeting organizers and presented an itemized list of costs. She would not reveal the figures, saying they are "still very much in flux until all of the details related to this event are finalized" and there are "too many moving targets."

Bringing the meeting to Binghamton will require more than one agreement with the EPA. While the county is negotiating its own deal, the agency will also have to come to terms with the City of Binghamton and state police about the price of security outside of the Forum, on which the venue talks have centered.

The city was in contact Thursday evening with The Cadmus Group, a marketing firm contracted by the EPA, to discuss coordinating security plans.

(Click to read the entire article)