ECO-Vrindaban Board Meeting Minutes 2-23-2014
ECO-Vrindaban Board Meeting Minutes 2-23-2014.
Mission Statement: ECO-Vrindaban promotes a simple, sustainable lifestyle centered on the care and protection of cows, local food production and the loving service of Lord Krishna, as envisioned by Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON New Vrindaban.
Participating Members of the ECOV Board of Directors: Anuttama (partial attendance), Bhima, Chaitanya Mangala, Krpamaya, Navin Shyam, and Ranaka. Madhava Gosh did not participate in the Utica Shale gas lease discussion and vote (due to a conflict of interest).
Advisors present: Jaya Krsna
1. Used equipment purchase
WHEREAS: The ECOV Board wishes to acquire proper equipment for its gardening projects, and to facilitate a smooth winding down of the operations of the Small Farm Training Center on INV & ECOV managed properties.
RESOLVED: The Board authorizes up to $6,000 for acquiring implements from the SFTC, including a transplanter, plastic layer/bed former, and chisel plow.
2. Utica Shale Gas Lease
WHEREAS: The ECOV Board wishes to proactively respond to the proliferation of natural gas drilling in and around New Vrindaban so as to minimize the risk of harm to the land and its residents and maximize any potential gains.
RESOLVED: Upon consideration of the inquiries from the New Vrindaban Advocacy Sanga (contained in e-mails dated February 13 and 19) and the respective legal opinions of Mr. William Leon (dated January 30 and February 19), which addressed the following issues:
- Terms of the lease;
- Conflicts of interest;
- Proxy voting by directors;
- Voting by non-resident directors;
- GBC involvement;
- Due diligence on the part of directors;
- Air and water quality protections; and
- Proposed well pad placements,
and after thorough examination of the terms of the proposed leases, in light of the instructions of Srila Prabhupada, the best interests of the community under the circumstances, and the principle of yukta vairagya (as described by Varsana Swami in his paper entitled “Yukta Vairagya and the Gas Drilling Contract”), the ECOV Board hereby authorizes its officers to execute lease agreements as to the Utica Shale formations underlying ECOV-owned lands, subject to the following two internal commitments by the Board:
1) If requested by the legal owner of an affected property, ECOV shall ensure testing of any water supply within a thousand feet of well pads located on either INV or ECOV-managed properties, in accordance with a regimen prescribed by an industry expert;
2) ECOV shall provide a grant of at least $350K toward renovation of Srila Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, to be provided on a matching basis to any funds expended by INV. This grant shall supersede the previous grant of $100K and loan of $100K, which are both hereby defunded.
