Joe Martens Says NY Will Vote “No” on DRBC Drilling Rules
As MDN reported yesterday, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) is set to vote on new drilling rules to allow limited drilling in the DRBC jurisdiction on Nov. 21 (see this MDN story). The DRBC has five voting members: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and the federal government.
According to NY State DEC Commissioner Joe Martens, New York will be a “no” vote on the new regulations at that meeting, no doubt to the delight of anti-drilling groups. His reasoning?…
“At this point, I would have to say we are going to vote ‘no,’” Martens told reporters after a (closed-door) meeting of the DEC’s hydrofracking advisory panel.
“We don’t want the regulated community to have two different sets of regulations, which are probably inconsistent in places,” he added. “We just think it would be very confusing for the regulated entity to have to go to two separate entities to get permits.”
When asked whose set of rules would take precedence if a gas company wanted to drill in New York’s portion of the basin, Martens said the reporter was “making (his) point.”
“It creates confusion. We would prefer that those regulations not apply to New York, but they can apply to other states,” he said. “But they shouldn’t apply to New York … We don’t have drilling here yet and we won’t until we complete this process, and we want to have one set of regulations.”*
As this pro-drilling New Yorker must do from time to time, just keep chanting through clenched teeth and a forced smile, “I love New York, I love New York….”
*Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Nov 9, 2011) – Martens: NY likely to vote ‘no’ on DRBC regs
How did NY vote two years ago when the DRBC set off down the long, tortured path of creating a second, overlapping regulatory scheme? I think this is more evidence that Martens simply gloms onto whatever argument has the effect of indirectly creating more obstruction to economic development. It’s old-school NIMBY gamesmanship.
What’s your problem Mr. Willis? One day you complain about how bad the DRBC regs are, then the next day you complain that the DEC is voting against them! Which set of rules are you for?
NO regs at all? That would suit you and the O&G lobby just fine.