Tioga County's Tioga Investigates Natural Gas (TING) Committee is an ad-hoc working group made up of various county, agency and municipal officials, as well as other members of the community, that was formed in early 2009 to prepare for the pending gas drilling industry. For the past 15 months, TING has been working diligently on a document designed to prepare municipal officials for the public sector impacts of natural gas drilling and is now pleased to announce the availability of the Natural Gas Exploration and Development Municipal Resource Binder and associated Action Item Checklists.  These documents can be found at http://www.tiogacountyny.com/ and click on the TING logo.

This extensive Resource Binder details issues and outlines actions that municipalities can take, now and in the future, to prepare for and deal with the natural gas drilling industry and associated impacts.  The Binder covers many topics in chapter format including the Drilling Process, Communications, Land Use, Environment, Water Quality, Roads, Workforce, Public Safety, Additional Impacts and Maps.  Where appropriate, Action Item Checklists accompany an associated chapter.  These checklists sort actions in terms of timeframe ranging from Now, Pre-Application, Application, Drilling and Reclamation.  Action Items also include which entity is responsible for the action and to whom they should deliver a final product. 

Implementation of the Resource Binder will be a collaborative effort of our local municipalities, the Central Point of Contact (CPOC) and the Natural Gas Coordination Team (NGC Team) at the county level.  The Tioga County Legislature has designated the Tioga County Department of Economic Development and Planning as this CPOC.  Specifically, Doug Barton, Department Director and Elaine Jardine, County Planning Director, will be responsible to outreach to natural gas operating companies who already have a presence in Tioga County, either through exploratory vertical drilling or leaseholders on record, to establish a working relationship.  The CPOC will also coordinate efforts of Tioga County's NGC Team, which the Tioga County Legislature has officially established by resolution.  This NGC Team is made up of several county department heads who will have some type of official involvement in drilling activities from local government, as well as a municipal representative.

TING presented this Resource Binder to municipal officials within Tioga County at a meeting held last month.  TING members will now meet individually with municipal boards and officials to cover in more detail specific topics and activities they are interested in pursuing.

TING, CPOC and the NGC Team are committed to making the transition to resource-based economic development in the form of natural gas drilling as smooth as possible in Tioga County.

Please direct your questions regarding TING or the Resource Binder to Elaine Jardine at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by phone at 607-687-8257 or visit www.tiogacountyny.com/ting or click on the TING logo on the homepage.