March 1999 Newsletter excerpt

Current status of the well

No work is being done on the well now. Power has not been connected to it and it has not been used since January. In order to proceed with the well Song Mountain would have to apply to the Preble Zoning Board with their plans. This would be a public hearing and we would have notice ahead of time. Song Mountain has some homework to do before that. For example they have to get a permit from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. I have been in contact with the SRBC and they indicated to me that Song Mountain would not be doing anything until late summer or fall.

History

When Song Mountain’s new management took over last fall one of the things they decided they needed was a well to provide backup water for snow making. They put in a rather large well (1,000 gallons per minute) about 400 feet north of Song Lake. The manager at the time, Bill Mayo did not get approval from the planning board but did get the go ahead from Doug Staley. They rushed to get the well installed before we could do anything to prevent it but they didn't count on the great people of Song Lake. We weren’t going to stand by and let them destroy our lake.  A gold star goes to Joe Heath for his fast response. His efforts with the Preble Zoning Board of Appeals forced then to issue a stop work order to Song Mountain for the well. The well is now stopped. It is installed but NiMo has not connected power to it and will not do so until Song Mountain gets a proper permit from the town’s boards to finish installation and use the well. We could not have done it without Joe.

Song Mountain can get all the water they need for snow making by damming the creek on their own property without endangering Song Lake. Naturally we wonder why they want such a huge well if snow making is their only planned use. In order to get a permit from Preble they have to adhere to all of the SEQR regulations which includes a permit from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. They should do an environmental impact study about the wells effect on the lake and on our neighbors wells.

There is a large number of “hoops” that Song Mountain will have to jump through in order to get this well up and running. The SEQR regulations, SRBC rules and the opposition from the local residents. Song Mountain suffered a large amount of bad press because of this well. They got bad press from every other indiscretion they made partly because of the well. Everyone was so mad at them for the well that there was little they could do right.

If the well wasn’t enough problem they also have a stop work order on their “Tubing Park”. This is where you ride down the mountain on a large inner tube. The run they built went around a curve… too bad many of the tubers went straight and thus it was shut down for safety reasons. With all this to contend with we wonder why they would persist with the well. Installing damns on the creek will cost less than finishing the well and they would have no opposition from the locals. In addition their cost to operate the damns is almost zero, while running the well is costly, $1,400.00 per month plus $8.00 per hour just for the electricity. Add the maintenance, the cost for leasing or buying the property the well is on and you see my point. Why spend that kind of money if your only reason is to have a backup for snowmaking. We are worried that they have another reason for the well and may want it for a future purpose. We’ve heard rumors, just rumors about golf courses and water parks. Either of these would require the amount of water that well could pump. This well is not like the wells most farmers have. A farmers well pumps a lot of water but it all goes back into the ground. This well could pump Song Lake dry if it ran long enough and the water goes into Crooked Lake after it comes down off the mountain. No farmers well could even come close to doing that.

We have not heard from the owners about what their plans are. It is possible they are overwhelmed with all the trouble they have had this first year. In four months of operation they went through four managers, which is not a good sign. They might not even know what their plans are. One might guess that they would want to take some time after the season is over to evaluate their options. Then decide what is the best course of action to take to operate the mountain successfully. We are all in favor of that. A properly run operation is far less danger to the environment and the lake. We wish them success. However we will be keeping a very close eye on them to make sure they do no harm to the lake. Anything they want to do now will require a public hearing. Even with this guarantee we need to keep a very close eye on everything that goes on up on the mountain. I suspect it will be late summer or fall before we find out what their plans are.

Frank Hogg