FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

June 12th

Trumansburg - at 7 PM the Finger Lakes Forest Watch Congress (FLFWC) hosted a
public meeting  attended by 100 people at the Trumansburg Fire Hall to to
discuss Oil and Gas Drilling in the Finger Lakes National Forest (FLNF). A
second meeting is scheduled for tonight June 13 at the Logan Community Center
in Schuyler County.

The FLFWC group, made up of local citizens, discussed many different issues,
including:  economics of oil and gas drilling in the Forest and the community,
current impacts of oil and gas drilling across the Country and its history, the
legal process by which the current drilling project on the FLNF is being
reviewed, the Alternatives the Forest Service has selected for choosing a final
project, and the potential impacts the project could have on the Forest and the
community.

The meeting opened up with some economic data on drilling in the Forest,
presented by  Michael Lausell, president of the Friends of the Forest (FOF) and
member of the FLFWC. According to data Lausell obtained from the Forest
Service's documents (DEIS), the local communities will hardly gain from this
project if at all. "The DEIS states that only 3% of total revenues will be
given to local governments, from $100,000 to $340,000 a year," said Lausell.
"The state decides how much of this money actually goes to Seneca and Schuyler
counties. And when one considers the amount the towns will need to spend to fix
roads damaged by the heavy trucks used for drilling, we might even come out in
the red."

Doug Connery, a member of the FLFWC, and Jim Kleissler of the Allegheny Defense
Project  went on to talk about current impacts of drilling, and oil and gas
history. According to Connery's research, there is evidence of big oil
companies trying to evade paying agreed to royalties to property owners. It was
mentioned that the counties might do worse than even Mr. Lausell suggested. Mr.
Kleissler stated that the oil companies and the Forest Service cannot be
trusted, giving a short history of oil and gas drilling in this country and of
the practices of the Forest Service. "The Forest Service is setup to support
industry, not the people it is supposed to be representing," said Mr.
Kleissler. "Looking at the history of oil and gas industry, and the Forest
Service, we see a long list of abuses and exploitation of the public."

Kathryn Engel, a neighboor to the Forest and member of the FLFWC, discussed the
potential  impacts the project could have. Among those: Exploration, drilling
and construction will take 18 to 40 years; Drilling test holes in a straight
line every 110 feet (48 to the mile), to detonate explosives anywhere in the
forest; 10 to 15 well pads would contain a total of 15 to 32 wells; A necessary
pipeline will be almost six miles long, and require a right of way 25 to 50
feet wide; Soil and water contamination or contamination of local wells is
possible; Local roads will bear increased traffic of up to 38,000 one way trips
by vehicles and trucks; Noise levels may be unbearable to locals, tourists, and
wildlife. She also discussed the different Alternatives the Forest Service has
outlined for finalizing this project. "While it may looke like Alternative 3,
the No Surface Occupancy Alternative is preferential to Alternative 4, the No
Action Alternative, this is just a cloud," said Engel. "While Alt 3 doesn't
allow for wells on the Forest, it does allow for exploration blasting every 110
ft., road construction, and pipeline construction through the Forest. This is
the main reason we are urging the Forest Service to choose Alternative 4, and
do nothing in our Forest."

This meeting comes in the wake of the release of a Draft Environmental Impact
Statement  (DEIS) from the Forest Service. This DEIS is supposed to evaluate
all the potential social, economic and environmental impacts that the Oil and
Gas Drilling project could have on the Finger Lakes National Forest. The FLFWC
and others have carefully looked through this document and analyzed it. This is
where the group obtained most of its information about impacts to the Forest
and Community, as well as Alternatives the Forest Service has selected. With
the release of the DEIS, a public comment period opens which lasts until August
1st. The public has until this time to send their comments in to the Forest
Service regarding this proposal.

The FLFWC stressed the importance of sending in personal, hand written letters.
"The  Forest Service really has to know that the public doesn't  want drilling
in their Forest," said Jesse Strock, member of the FLFWC. "Writting letters and
telling them to choose 'No Action' is one of our best ways of letting them know
this."