One of the most disingenuous arguments of the natural gas opposition is that development constitutes industrialization. It preserves open space by giving farmers and landowners a means of sustaining it.

Nothing will do more to save the farm and preserve open space than natural gas drilling. It is the single most effective tool available for protecting the rural character valued by all who live here, because it rewards landowners for holding onto property and gives them the means to do so. All the government programs combined will not protect as much farm land as natural gas.

Vacant farm land in upstate New York typically generates an annual real property tax bill of $6-8 per acre, meaning that just holding onto 150 acres of farm fields costs about $900-1,200 year in taxes before considering taxes on improvements, insurance and other operating costs or the opportunity costs involved, all of which can be considerable. Indeed, a 2011 Cornell study of 190 New York dairy farms found they paid an average of over $30,000 each per year in real property taxes (see Table 4).

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http://naturalgasnow.org/natural-gas-development-saves-farm/