CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

Ten years ago, the first gas well in the area's current exploration boom was drilled in Chemung County, and landowners throughout the region signed leases with gas and oil companies during the ensuing years.

Many of those leases are nearing expiration, coming at a time of renewed and even greater interest in the region's natural resources, thanks to the identification of the Marcellus Shale natural gas field as potentially the largest in the nation.

"And we are sitting right on top of it," Lindsay K. Wickham, New York Farm Bureau field adviser and local issues specialist, told some 300 people gathered Monday night at Watkins Glen High School.

Wickham said the thickest point of the gas field in New York appears to be in the area of Broome, Delaware and Sullivan counties. Signing bonuses paid to landowners for drilling leases and promised royalties for production are evidence of the interest companies have in the area.

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