UPPER SUSQUEHANNA COALITION
Public Safety Bldg, 103 Corporate Drive, Multi-Purpose Room, Owego, NY
Minutes - March 23, 2010
Attendees:
*Wendy Walsh
*Chip McElwee
*Jeff Parker
Chris Yearick
*Jim Curatolo
*Mike Lovegreen
Joann Burke
*Steve Lorraine
Erin Heard
John Wickham
*Rob DeClue
Marty Borko
Ron Dougherty
Scott Cook
*Craig Schutt
*Erica Tomlinson
Miranda Kearney
*Jerry Verrigni
*Scott Fickbohm
Jeff Ten Eyck
John Jackson
*Amanda Barber
Aaron Ristow
Jimmy Joe Carl
*Rick Wiedenbach
Tioga County SWCD
Broome County SWCD
Steuben County SWCD
Chemung County SWCD
USC Coordinator
Bradford County CD
Madison County SWCD
Madison County SWCD
USC Outreach Specialist
Schuyler County SWCD/USC
Chenango County SWCD
Carantouan Greenway
Tioga County SWCD Board Member
NYS DEC Region 7 Water
Tompkins County SWCD
Tioga County CD, PA
Binghamton University CIWS
Schuyler County SWCD
Otsego County SWCD
NYS SWCC
Otsego County SWCD
Cortland County SWCD
Cortland County SWCD
Chemung Stormwater Coalition
Delaware County SWCD
*Denotes voting members
I. Call to Order by chairperson Walsh at 10:10
II. Approval of Minutes
Steve Lorraine motions to approve the minutes as presented. Rob DeClue seconds the motion. Approved.
III. Marcellus Shale Update (Wendy Walsh)
Wendy passed around the draft white paper on the District’s role in Marcellus Shale Exploration for
comments. The Draft should be at the State Committee meeting on April 20th. It is questionable whether
or not to include discussion on funding. Jim suggested that we do not discuss funding. It is decided to
remove the funding discussions for now. Comments should be in Wendy’s hands by April 2, 2010.
Mike Lovegreen asks for a qualifier saying that each district may serve different roles in their county.
Topical discussions can continue at monthly meetings. Gas companies may be invited to discuss district
roles at these meetings. County attorneys may also be invited to speak. Meeting discussions will depend
on the final draft of the white paper regarding district roles.
Rick Wiedenbach reinforces that USC should look into using Ag and Mkts. law to prove our place
involving ag/gas drilling issues. Agencies need to push Ag and Mkts to speak up on the protection of
farmland in NY. It is suggested to ask Keith Porter and the Cornell Law students to focus on Ag and Mkts
law. The message that needs to go from Hooker to Grannis is that districts are able to provide additional
services to the DEC, alleviating their lack of staffing.
Rick Wiedenbach motions to ask Keith Porter to look into Ag and Mkts law to site specific authority the
Department of Agriculture and Markets has to protect and mitigate agricultural land.
Amanda Barber seconds the motion.
Approved.
The USC should decide what we are willing to deliver (at various geographic and capacity levels – local,
county, multicounty, watershed) prior to holding the meeting with gas companies.
Meeting will be held April 30, 2010.
IV. Congressional Staff Briefing – 22 April 2010
At the Statler Hotel and Cornell. USC senior members are invited. We are trying to get a rep from each
congressional member and some state senators/assembly, EPA, CBP DE and Ag/Mkts.
V.
Chesapeake Bay Update and discussion
 Latest on the CB model runs and what is says about USC loads
i. Model hasn’t been run yet. DEC invited Jim Curatolo to Gettysburg for a 2 day meeting
with the other Bay states to decide on load allocations. Meeting will be held on April 5
and 6.
ii. Jim’s brainstorm on load allocations:
1. Allocated load presently based on delivered load. Even though headwaters states
have less delivered load, they have to pay the same amount to get their reduction.
2. Base allocation on nutrient load generated in the state; this scenario gives credit
for loss in transport along the way; NY would meet its TMDL today if option 2
were used.
Rick Wiedenbach motions for Jim to present his scenarios at the meeting in Gettysburg.
Rob Declue seconds the motion.
Carried.
USC will still need a base program to sustain current water quality standards and to deal with
Marcellus Shale development.
 Update and discussion on the 2 year Implementation Plans, need for good data and meeting dates
to review data and a review of county problems with data collection efforts (Chris Yearick)
Chris will speak with every county to determine current contracts, round 15, and round 16 proposals
and NRCS/FSA projects. This will be written up as the 2-year implementation plan.
 Special meeting to review the two year plan develop a 15 year Tributary Strategy
USC will chop up our tributary strategy and use it for the 15 year plan. We need good dairy
numbers. 30% of NY’s entire delivered load came from hay in current model run. Jim had the
numbers reduced to better reflect reality. We need an analysis of NMPs, specifying on how many
acres of hay are nutrients spread versus no spread and also the total N and Total P per acre actually
used form all sources. The next model run will be using 80 pound of N and 40 pound of P versus the
original 200 and 80 respectively. Chris needs the numbers by the middle of April to get into the
next model run.
VI. The USC Stream Team – Mike Lovegreen
The team is keeping up with everyone’s requests. Mike will set up a 2 day design training during the
2nd week of May sometime. Mike will get a notice out to everyone.
Delaware County is training for emergency stream intervention, just triage. Training contractors and
municipal officials on a site in the Susquehanna watershed. There are open spaces left. Delaware County
will let USC know when it will be held, sometime in May. It is a 3 step program.
VII. USC Grazing Initiative update and next steps
3 funding sources currently supporting grazing. More requests can be sent when EQIP ranks are in. Jim
will send an e-mail out with the request form and figure out how much money is left.
VIII. The NEW USC Agriculture Coordinator Position
 Volunteers to potentially provide space: Tioga, Delaware, Madison, Otsego, Tompkins, Cortland
 Executive committee: will interview, the DM in whatever county the position is housed will be
immediate manager with oversight and directions from the Watershed Coordinator
 Part time money is available now; position will probably grow to full time. It will be a district
employee funded through the USC
 Applications accepted until May 1, 2010
 Start distributing the notice, official announcement will go out March 24
 Possible benefits, pay commensurate with experience
IX. DOT MOU with Districts
DOT wants an MOU with the State Committee to provide money to districts. DOT will provide funds.
X. USC Wetland Program
 Stimulus Project update: sent in the 1st $350,000 bill, still waiting for reimbursement.
 Wetland Mitigation Banking progress: NYSEG is buying property to mitigate. The Wetland Trust
will own the land and be responsible for protecting the land in perpetuity.
 Set meeting date for Wetland Committee : May 26th, 2010.
XI. Committee and County Reports:
Broome: 2 grants in next round. Applying for a small composting grant including 4 or 5 farms. Small
flood event on Jan 25th, continuing to get calls about it. Colesville continues to get flooded. Getting ready
for trees and Envirothon.
Delaware: Village of Walton is in 4 floodplains. Convinced the Open Space Institute to buy the last
undeveloped parcel of floodplain. Going to dig out fill and create more storage to reduce flooding. New
flood maps have placed the main street in the floodway. AEM meeting on Susquehanna Thursday.
Bradford: routine stuff. County stream initiative. 1.3 million dollars worth of stream work will finish up
in the next couple of months. Collecting urban BMPs such as miles of street cleaned. Working with
FFA’s at high schools to work on turf plot BMPs. April 12 two sociologists will report in Athens on a
study they did on how the community is affected by the gas invasion. May be good speakers for a USC
meeting. Remind Mike and he will invite them.
Madison: working on round 16 grants, trying to get a handle on the gas stuff.
Chenango: round 16 proposals, hoping for some dry weather
Tioga Cty board member: perception/suggestions: Don’t overestimate the stability or interest of the state
will be in line with the USC. Focus on the alignment with the Ag and Mkt law. Look at the long term
interests.
Scott Cook DEC: new regional water engineer Joe Salusky. Background in spill and petroleum bulk
storage. He is getting up to speed with USC issues. Medium CAFO inspections will happen this spring.
EPA will be here this year looking at round 6-8 CAFO inspections mostly in regions 7 and 8. Potential
that there will be enforcement cases if need be. Fielding a lot of calls on the new open burning
regulations. They are posted on DEC website. New clarifications posted on what requires a 360 permit.
Did a manure application training in Cortland last week. Grant announcement should be out in early
April.
Tompkins: tree sale, large stream project out to bid in the Town of Caroline. The Town of Danby is
asking to be a voluntary MS4. Contractor training coming up in April, highway departments are
attending. Mike Lovegreen did a great Marcellus Gas presentation at Cornell.
Tioga PA: Stream projects ready to go this summer. 85 current members of the Water Dog program.
Cortland: 70 people attended contractor training last week. Working on Round 16 project applications.
Cover Crop work group is still meeting, may need help with cover crop surveys. All hazard mitigation
plan is nearly complete for the City of Cortland. Hoping the plan is approved before the grant applications
are due. Involved in permitting with towns as a result of the last flood event.
Otsego: 3 stream projects to complete this year, 5 or 6 additional inventory assessments. Want to hold a
“train the volunteers” training. Numerous landowners interested in constructing wetlands. 2 grants in
Round 16. May start a buffer program using mainstem data from SUNY Oneonta. Started a grazing
steering committee, Troy will be giving some fence trainings in Otsego. New AEM person was hired. 8
months worth of water quality monitoring data. Envirothon, tree sale coming up. Board passed the gas
resolution, with a good chance that the county board will also pass it. Slowly talking about the idea of a
task force for the county.
Schuyler: Round 16, Marcellus shale, new round 15 project. Fence post pounding supplies and pounder
are ready to go.
Jeff Ten Eyck: Memo tomorrow about closing out grants AEA is ready. AEM 6 is still going to happen as
of now, if money is available. Trainings will be May 4 for John Shumaker’s counties. Probably visit with
DEC again about winter spreading ban.
Chemung County Stormwater Coalition: SWIP reviews, old Ithaca Rd. levy clearing, flood protection
projects with the Jackson Farm, working with local municipalities and FEMA on the new flood maps. 89000 new properties will require flood insurance. Drainage studies, dam failure analysis.
Steuben: MOU with DOT? Use Steuben as a paradigm, Jeff has been working with them for years.
Town of Hornellsville will build a new road to BOCES campus. 42 stream permits this winter. Permits
are now required when a project goes over 200 ft. in length. 27 stream projects lined up.
Tioga NY: County legislature passed a resolution supporting the district working on gas related issues.
15000 horsepower compressor station will be going in the Town of Owego. Several active wells being
drilled now. Lost an employee to the gas company.
XII. USC Coordinator Report
 Update on major funding opportunities: none right now. We’ll see what happens with DEC
 USC retreat will be held in early October.
 Dam Safety update – case example: Jim was working to help breach a Class B Dam and create a
wetland. Dam is 6 ft high, 500 ac/ft of water behind, but blocked by a mud flat. No hazards
downstream. Waiting for an update on classification. If reclassified as Class A it would help
landowners. Application for a permit to lower the dam by 1 ft and it will no longer be classified as
a dam. Dam safety couldn’t articulate the characteristics of each class of dam.
 A health insurance question: could a bunch of districts get together to get a group policy?
XIII. Next Meeting Date -28 May 2010
Adjourn 1:45pm