NOBULL: Dreams of gas riches fading for NY landowners

Dreams of gas riches fading for NY landowners

By MARY ESCH | Associated Press – Tue, Feb 26, 2013

Associated Press/Mike Groll – David Johnson poses in front of a Johnny Appleseed mural at his family’s Apple Hills Farm

on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Chenango, N.Y. Johnson, who has a 30-acre pick-your-own apple farm on his mostly wooded

400 acres in Binghamton, said gas drilling money would allow him to replace some worn-out equipment like the tractor that he

has to start with a screwdriver.(AP Photo/Mike Groll)

Turning a quick buck is not as important to him as preserving the hilltop farm that’s been in his family for 150 years.

"I’m looking forward to drilling," he said. "This could be a good thing to carry on our farms, because I don’t know anybody who’s not struggling."

[Consumers have never paid more for food. We must address the abusive market power of big business in all industries. MC]