The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) has been told to cut an additional 10% - nearly $7 million - from its current-year budget for non-personal services.  This is part of yet another round of across-the-board cuts being ordered by Governor Paterson for all state agencies without taking into account the economic benefits some agencies bring to the state and local economies.

Given that the vast majority of OPRHP's operations occur during the peak summer tourist season, the agency has already spent the lion's share of its operating budget.  This leaves only one option for OPRHP--to close state parks and historic sites. 

This most recent reduction would bring the total cuts that OPRHP has sustained this past year to almost 25%.  All of this is occurring despite the fact that a recent Parks & Trails New York report revealed that the state park system accounts for nearly $2 billion each year in economic benefits for the state and local economies and creates 20,000 jobs - exclusive of state park employees.

In these challenging economic times the Governor should be looking for ways to bolster OPRHP's ability to fulfill its mission, not looking to cut the agency to the point where the only option is closing state park facilities.  Once they are closed, they will be closed for years, if not forever.

Contact the Governor TODAY and let him know that cutting state parks is a bad idea for the people of New York and the state's economy.

The frenzy to explore the gas-rich Marcellus shale in western New York has reached Allegany State Park.  U.S. Energy, a developer of natural gas and oil wells, has asserted claims to leases for the subsurface mineral rights to some 3,000 acres of the park.  This scenario comes about as a result of the state purchasing only the surface rights for much of what is now Allegany State park, leaving the subsurface mineral rights in the hands of private interests.

The area of the park where U.S. Energy proposes to drill five exploratory wells is as close to wilderness as can be found in New York State outside the Adirondacks and even includes some old-growth forest.  Any drilling would likely be done through a process known as hydraulic fracturing (hydro-fracking) and would  require cutting trees for access roads, clearing acres of land for drill pads and trucking water and chemicals used in the hydro-fracking process - a mixture that would then need to be recovered from the wells, moved off-site and treated.

 

Parks & Trails New York has joined with other environmental organizations in opposing the drilling. We are pursuing both statutory and regulatory approaches to protecting the park.  We have met and are continuing to meet with State Parks, the Department of Environmental Conservation and several legislative offices to find a way to prevent any drilling from occurring in Allegany State Park.