COVENTRY – Coventry and Greene joined a growing list of townships in Chenango County that say they are open for natural gas development.

At a meeting Friday night, members of the Coventry Town Board voted 4 to 1 to put their confidence in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s ability to harvest their shale gas resources in a safe manner. The resolution adopted was the same one being offered by the Central New York Landowners Coalition and adopted by the towns of Bainbridge, Guilford and Afton over the last two weeks. Preston adopted its own pro-drilling resolution.

In Greene, Supervisor Jack Cook wrote a letter to DEC officials and state representatives expressing similar sentiment, saying the town board would accept the DEC’s permitting regulations when and if they are completed. “We feel that the permitting process should be left up to the individual property owner whether they want drilling or not,” stated the July 13 letter.

Cook said his board chose not to sign any resolutions for or against any type of drilling, and made the decision to write the letter earlier in the week.

About 25 speakers took the podium to address the Coventry Town Board during the public comment session. The drilling sentiment was equally divided between both sides of the issue. Supervisor George Westcott first permitted town residents and taxpayers to speak for three minutes each, followed by non-residents for a total of 20 minutes before considering the resolution.