New York State’s Governor, Kathy Hochul, and Attorney General, Letitia James, issued virtually the same press release yesterday to announce they’ve killed yet another small business in New York State. In an amusing display of vanity, Hochul and James (both Democrats and political rivals, James wants Hochul’s position as Governor) issued slightly different versions of the same press release, each putting her own name first in the release. The release says James R. Lee and his corporate affiliates–Lee Oil Company, Inc., Whitesville Producing Corporation, Whitesville Production Corp., Allegro Oil & Gas Inc., and Allegro Investments Corporation–owned or operated hundreds of oil wells in Steuben and Cattaraugus counties. A state lawsuit claimed some 400 of those wells were not properly plugged. The state won a $2 million judgment against Lee and his companies for lack of compliance, the biggest such award in state history related to plugging old wells.
New York State’s Governor, Kathy Hochul, and Attorney General, Letitia James, issued virtually the same press release yesterday to announce they’ve killed yet another small business in New York State. In an amusing display of vanity, Hochul and James (both Democrats and political rivals, James wants Hochul’s position as Governor) issued slightly different versions of the same press release, each putting her own name first in the release. The release says James R. Lee and his corporate affiliates–Lee Oil Company, Inc., Whitesville Producing Corporation, Whitesville Production Corp., Allegro Oil & Gas Inc., and Allegro Investments Corporation–owned or operated hundreds of oil wells in Steuben and Cattaraugus counties. A state lawsuit claimed some 400 of those wells were not properly plugged. The state won a $2 million judgment against Lee and his companies for lack of compliance, the biggest such award in state history related to plugging old wells.