Big Green Pressures NY Democrats to Reject CO2 Fracking in Upstate
At the end of October, MDN told you about a company called Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions, based in Binghamton, NY, sending fliers to landowners in Broome, Tioga, and Chemung counties (along the border with Pennsylvania, where there is no doubt large amounts of Marcellus and Utica gas beneath the ground) inviting landowners to sign up for what appears to be an exciting opportunity to sell gas rights (see Company Seeks to Lease New York Mineral & Pore Rights for Flat $10). Last week, we told you about several local politicians (Democrats) and several Big Green groups now gearing up to oppose the plan to “frack” (which is a misnomer) with CO2 (see Big Green, Democrats Launch Effort to Block NY CO2 “Fracking”). It’s time for Food & Water Watch and other nutball green groups to fundraise before the end of the year, so they launched an all-out assault on the Southern Tier Solutions plan yesterday.
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The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), the nonprofit that oversees the state’s electricity system, has warned New York State for YEARS of coming blackouts if peaker plants in New York City are forced to close in 2025 (see 
A company called Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions, based in Binghamton, NY (where MDN is located), is sending fliers to landowners in Broome, Tioga, and Chemung counties (along the border with Pennsylvania, where there is no doubt large amounts of Marcellus and Utica gas beneath the ground) inviting landowners to sign up for what appears to be an exciting opportunity to sell gas rights. The flier (below) and company website say the company plans to use carbon dioxide (CO2) to (a) store it underground, but also (b) use it to extract natural gas from underground and then (c) either sell the gas via pipeline or burn it to produce electricity. The technology envisioned is an alternative to fracking. Will it work? And, will it be profitable for landowners?
A very small but mouthy group of legislators, doctors and faux “scientists” is pressuring the weak-willed New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to pass the NY Home Energy Affordable Transition Act, just months after Hochul’s controversial move to ban gas stoves, furnaces and propane heating in new residential buildings in the Empire State (see 
In May, MDN brought you the sad news that New York State has fallen and is now under a Communist dictatorship, with the freedom to choose energy sources now gone (see 
Every single week, we read stories in mainstream media (and in the fringe environmental media) that declare so-called renewables, namely solar and wind, are taking the world by storm. They’re replacing fossil fuels. The fat lady is just about ready to sing and bring down the curtain on fossil energy because wind and solar are taking over, baby. Except it’s all a lie! The editor of the Times Observer (in Warren, PA), The Post-Journal (in Jamestown, NY), and the OBSERVER (in Dunkirk, NY) penned a sobering column that points out wind and solar contribute roughly 2% of the electricity flowing to the grid in New York State, and not much more for the grid in Pennsylvania.
It will be lights-out in Times Square if New York insists on forcing peaker plants to close in 2025. That’s according to Rich Dewey, president and CEO of the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), the nonprofit that oversees the state’s electricity system. Dewey has warned the state for YEARS of coming blackouts if peaker plants in New York City are forced to close in 2025. NY Dems, who irrationally hate fossil energy, are forcing the closure of NYC’s peakers, believing unreliable renewables and a big, fat power line from Canada will be enough to keep the lights on. Good luck with that.
It is so maddening and frustrating to live and (if you are a business), operate in New York State. We have one-party rule: The radical leftwing of the Democrat Party. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (a lecher and liar) and current Gov. Kathy Hochul (Lt. Governor under Cuomo) are completely controlled by the radical environmental movement. Cuomo/Hochul’s latest target is to block the expansion of two compressor stations along the Iroquois Gas Transmission pipeline, preventing an additional 125 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) of Marcellus/Utica gas flowing into New York City and New England.
Researchers with the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) recently published a study in the journal Ecological Indicators. The study’s intent was to measure whether or not frack waste dumped in local landfills has radiation that is leaking out in groundwater (leachate) from those facilities. Research like this, if legitimate (and accurate), is a good thing. We need to know if the waste we’re dumping is causing a problem. But a funny thing happened during the study. The researchers found a big problem with recordkeeping.
Just two weeks ago, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) told all water users in the basin that have withdrawal permits, including shale drillers, they should review those permits, and if there are restrictions for withdrawals during low streamflow conditions, they need to make alternative plans (see 
We have a federal court decision from an interesting case to share. From June 2005 to October 2007, U.S. Energy Development Corporation contracted with Superior Well Services (of Pennsylvania) to frack natural gas wells owned by U.S. Energy in (of all places) New York State. Yes, fracking used to (still does) happen in NY–at least with conventional wells. U.S. Energy filed a claim against Superior in October 2007, saying Superior had damaged 97 of its wells during fracking by using the wrong kind of chemical mixtures in its fracking fluid.
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG) and its pipeline subsidiary Empire Pipeline have worked on a plan to build the Northern Access Pipeline since 2016. Northern Access is a 97-mile project from McKean County in Pennsylvania into and through Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Erie counties in New York that will flow Marcellus gas into New York State. The radicals of the Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul administrations have repeatedly delayed the project. NFG still wants to build it but needs more time. Last July, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave NFG an extra 35 months to get the project done–until Dec. 31, 2024 (see 
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse in New York, the “Empire State,” it does! In May, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (Democrat) signed a budget into law that includes provisions to ban gas stoves and furnaces in new residential buildings (see