DRYDEN, N.Y. — Last month, the town of Dryden passed a moratorium which will block any applications for new public utilities projects for 180 days.

It's clear that the moratorium is aimed, or at least inspired by, NYSEG's planned West Dryden Pipeline. For more than two years now, there have been concerns about the proposed seven mile long natural gas pipeline, which would carry natural gas through Dryden and Freeville and into Lansing to support new developments there.

The pipeline would impact approximately 100 properties along that stretch of land.

While it's unclear what the exact timeline of the project is, the Dryden Town Board wanted to issue the moratorium to make sure they had time to revise their zoning codes.

"Basically, what we want to do is make sure we have our house in order before this comes forward," said town board member Deborah Cipolla-Dennis. "That is, making sure that our zoning law is up to date and will address any potential issues that could be there... and to also take a look at what other kinds of liability insurance we might want to require. Any of those things that might protect the citizens of west Dryden Road."

Unfair easements?

In particular, there have been major concerns over the easements -- the basic contracts that would allow NYSEG to build on residents' land in exchange for a one-time payment. Many people feel that the contracts NYSEG is using do not do enough to protect residents or compensate them fairly.

Cipolla-Dennis explained that she had seen the easement NYSEG was offering and felt it was "lacking."

For instance, the easement does not detail the location of the pipeline, effectively giving NYSEG the right to put the pipeline anywhere on the property.

It also does not require any sort of remediation or decommissioning for the pipeline once it is no longer in use. When in use, these pipelines have a current running through them that prevents the line from rusting. Once they are no longer used, they eventually rust and collapse, which would create a large divot in the property's owners land. It would be up to the property owner to remove the pipeline and fix any damage done to their property.

Easement vs. lease

Chris Denton, an Elimra-based attorney who specializes in this area of law, believes that this is a problem that is endemic in these kinds of projects.

"It's like a tenant writing a lease for the landlord -- it's written for the tenant," Denton said. "When NYSEG writes the easement for itself... they made it exclusively to their benefit. There's nothing in that document that benefits or protects the landowner."

Denton also says that easements do not provide fair compensation to the property owners. He argues that since these contracts represent an ongoing use of land, they should be structured more like leases with monthly or yearly payments instead of a one-time fee.

"That's what these easements are. They get the right  to use your property, you end up paying the taxes, you have the liability, and they get to pay you one time. It doesn't make sense," Denton says.

Denton argues that the way these deals are structured represents a "hidden subsidy" for natural gas. If the gas companies were actually paying fair-market value for the use of the land gained in an easement, he says, it would change the entire economics of the natural gas industry and help level the playing field between natural gas and other forms of energy.

Unclear future

Earlier this summer, NYSEG was performing core drilling operations in the area to gather information on the geology.

NYSEG has said it may use eminent domain to proceed with the project if it can't secure easements for the rest of the properties that would be impacted.

Town Supervisor Jason Leifer said that NYSEG would need to attain all of the property rights before they could even put in an application permit with the town. Additionally, NYSEG has not yet filed the easements it has obtained with the county, according to Cipolla-Dennis.

With that in mind, it's uncertain if the moratorium has delayed or otherwise impacted NYSEG's plans, or how the company might respond to tighter regulations on the project.

NYSEG representatives had not responded to calls for comment before press time.