The Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce is “very disappointed” with Wednesday’s selection of the Lago Resort & Casino in the Seneca County town of Tyre for the “Eastern Southern Tier” region.
The New York Gaming Facility Location Board announced its recommendations during a meeting in Albany on Wednesday.
The Binghamton Chamber provided its reaction in a statement released on Wednesday after the announcement. The statement also noted Wednesday’s decision that bans hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in New York.
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The Lago facility will have the “greatest direct impact” on Town of Tyre, the Chamber said.
At the same time, Broome County and the six additional counties in the Eastern Southern Tier will split an expected $7.3 million in aid for education or property tax relief and $12.8 million in new aid to local governments, the organization added.
However, the Binghamton Chamber also contends the economic impact of the Lago casino will be “very minimal” to Binghamton and the Southern Tier due to its location in Seneca County “and not in one of the other two true Southern Tier sites.”
Traditions Resort & Casino in the town of Union in Broome County and Tioga Downs Casino Racing & Entertainment in Nichols in Tioga County were also competing for the license in the Eastern Southern Tier region.
The board’s decision is a “true disappointment” to the businesses and taxpayers in Binghamton and the Southern Tier, Lou Santoni, president and CEO of the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, said in the statement.
“With the recent announcement of the DEC blocking Fracking in the Southern Tier, a casino in the Southern Tier would have helped to stimulate some economic activity and job growth. The Lago Resort & Casino will not help stimulate the economy and unemployment rate in the Southern Tier,” Santoni contends.
He was also referencing the recommendation from Joe Martens, commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and Dr. Howard Zucker, the state’s acting commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, that New York not pursue the prospects of fracking in New York.
They cited health risks, local bans, and limited land availability in areas with local bans, according to a Wednesday report on the website of the Albany Times Union.
The reactions also included a short statement from the Oneida Indian Nation, which has operated the Turning Stone Resort Casino for more than 20 years.
“Turning Stone has operated since 1993 as if we had competition, and we’ve been preparing for it since then. We reinvest 100 percent of our revenues into our own community, and we will continue to do so,” the Nation said in its statement.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo reached an agreement with the Oneidas on May 16, 2013 on casino-revenue sharing in return for a guarantee that no other casinos are built in Central New York.
A state lawmaker from the Finger Lakes region also reacted to the Cuomo administration’s decision not to pursue fracking in New York.
New York State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb (R–Canandaigua) notes that 35 states have created jobs and revenue from natural-gas fracking.
But with the decision not to explore the industry, Kolb asks, “what now?”
“Upstate New York desperately needs sustainable, job-creating businesses and new industries. With natural gas fracking now taken off the table, what is the solution? What are the options? Facilitating true economic recovery in upstate communities must be among our highest priorities in the upcoming budget discussions and legislative session – especially in light of today’s announcement. Our economic well-being should not depend on the success of blackjack tables and slot machines,” Kolb said in the statement.
Hydraulic fracturing is a “well–stimulation process used to maximize the extraction” of underground resources, such as oil, natural gas, geothermal energy, and even water, according to the website of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“The oil and gas industry uses hydraulic fracturing to enhance subsurface fracture systems to allow oil or natural gas to move more freely from the rock pores to production wells that bring the oil or gas to the surface,” the EPA website says.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
