Currently, the Unatego Area Landowners Association has appx. 270 members with about 28,000 membership acres.
The Unatego Area Landowners Association is an ad hoc group of Otego, Unadilla and Butternuts area landowners with an interest in forming a coalition to negotiate with gas drilling companies.
Gas drilling companies are still active in our area buying leases for the gas rights on our properties. These five-year leases offer sign-up bonuses which range from $25 per acre to over $1,000 per acre. Since organized groups are offered higher prices than individual landowners with far more protection and security, it would benefit all of us in Otsego County if we are organized.
As an area-wide landowners organization, we have the ability to negotiate the best price and to protect ourselves by maintaining environmental standards, by investigating the companies' ability to pay what they promise, and by checking to see if they have kept their promises in the past.