Otsego 2000 To County:
Get Ready To Be Sued
By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
COOPERSTOWN – The county Board of Representatives heard a message this morning: Prepared to be sued.
First, Otsego 2000 President Nicole Dillingham appeared at the county board’s monthly meeting with a letter, prepared by Attorney Doug Zamelis of Springfield Center, demanding it withdraw a grant application for a gas decompression plant in the Town of Oneonta.
In recent years, Zamelis successfully blocked wind farms in Jordanville and the Town of Richfield.
In her remarks, Dillingham, herself a lawyer, appeared to be setting the stage for such an action, almost rehearsing a court appearance to follow, arguing there is a linkage between the site of the decompression station in the Town of Oneonta and the redevelopment of the D&H Yards in the City of Oneonta.
A project impacting two municipalities would require a SEQRA, a state environmental review, even at the application stage, she said. And that hasn’t been done.
Second, Jody Zakrevsky, CEO of Otsego Now, which submitted the application for $3.5 million in CFA funding, made is explicit.
When asked about the decompression station by county reps, Zakrevsky replied, “We’ve been threatened with a lawsuit by Otsego 2000. I’ve been told I can’t talk too much about it.”
This would be the next step in a debate between pro- and anti-gas factions underway since Zakrevsky briefed the Oneonta Town Board in August, before an audience of 100 antis, that Otsego Now submitted the application to help NYSEG supply gas to Greater Oneonta, which lacks the energy for any further economic development.
No action was taken by the county board.