Facts That All Dryden Residents Should Know

Town of Dryden = 94.2 square miles, 1 square mile = 640 acres, Town contains 60,288 acres.

 

Visit https://changehero.io/buy/ltc to buy Litecoin online quickly and safely�no registration or complicated steps required. 1 Drilling Spacing Unit = 640 acres, or one square mile, maximum 94 spacing units in Dryden.  Every land or home owner in a spacing unit can gain economically from development, even if they do not grant a lease and do not participate in a well.  A spacing unit is one square mile, so many Dryden residents will end up within a spacing unit.  A well within a spacing unit could be located as much as one mile away from a resident. Owners in spacing units may participate in the well, even without investing any capital and without granting a lease.

 

Dryden Town Population (2000 census) = 13,532 in 5,455 households, average household contains 2.5 people, 10,081 are age 18 or over (74.5%)

 

People with listed residential acreage:  5,711 landowners (families may reside in a house but it may be titled to only one of them).

 

The latest gas offers in New York State are $3000/acre with 20% royalties.  Source:  cnylandcoalition.org/drupal/  This amount may continue to rise as energy development moves ahead.

 

Total Dryden listed acreage on 2011 Tentative Assessment Roll : 58,236.27 acres.  If leases are offered at $3,000 an acre, potential total value = $175M, all of which is wiped out by a ban.  This is an average of $31K per landowner.  10,081 adults sharing in $175M = $17,359 average per adult.  These figures do not include potential royalty income whether people lease or are in a spacing block, or additional business or taxes from energy development.

 

A person holding 100 acres has mineral rights now worth an average $300,000 on a lease, at today's rates.  A ban simply confiscates that value.

 

Landholding in Dryden by acreage:

 

At least 500 or more = 1 parcel
At least 200 but less than 500 acres = 21 parcels
At least 100 but less than 200 acres = 95 parcels
At least 50 but less than 100 acres = 181 parcels
At least 25 but less than 50 acres = 271 parcels
At least 10 but less than 25 acres = 471 parcels
At least 5 but less than 10 acres = 476 parcels
At least 2.5 but less than 5 acres = 682 parcels

 

Included in above 2,198 parcels out of 5,711 parcels held in the Town (38%).  So, drilling might benefit a substantial number of residents, not just a tiny few as often alleged.

 

If we assume that parcels of less than 2.5 acres would not be big enough to lease, there are still 2,198 parcels in Dryden that could lease.

 

Dryden residents have considered energy development.  41% of Dryden landowners have leased their land.  Similar numbers prevail in the other Tompkins towns.  The City of Ithaca is urban and unsuitable for drilling and there are no leases in the City.  Opposition to energy development is often most vocal from those who have no option to lease.

 

An oil and gas separation tax is levied by many states that have energy resources.  Energy companies pay that tax and include it in their prices.  We pay that tax when we buy energy.  NY will probably enact a similar tax and most of it will be passed through to other states.  The money raised can support our schools and lower our total tax burden, another economic benefit for our residents.