Bloomberg news service has published a yellow journalism hit piece about NY State Senator Tom Libous (Republican from Binghamton) Read More “Bloomberg Hit Piece on Pro-Fracking NY State Senator”
We’ve heard for months now that the Dept. of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is really really close to releasing their new “rules for fracking on federal lands” (see New Interior Secretary Jewell Says BLM Fracking Rules Coming Soon). These are the same rules that Barack Obama would like to see used as a model for the states to use on non-public lands too (see Feds ‘Hope’ States will Use BLM Rules for ALL Fracking).
Must be this time the new rule release really is close, because Congress is held a hearing yesterday and the new rules, still unreleased, are receiving fire from both Republicans and Democrats…
Read More “BLM Rules for Fracking on Federal Land Criticized in DC”
Yesterday was D-Day, Decision-Day in the City of Youngstown, Ohio. Would the citizens of the city vote to commit economic suicide by adopting an amendment to the city’s charter that would not only ban fracking in the city, but also ban just about any activity related to shale drilling? A group of anti-fracking zealots, aided and abetted by Democrat city council members, were pushing for just that (see Youngstown, OH to Commit Utica Suicide with Vote to Ban Drilling).
Good news: Wiser heads have prevailed in Youngstown. Rational-thinking people voted down the ban by a vote of 57% to 43%. Closer than we’d like to see, but a convincing win nonetheless:
Read More “Youngstown, OH Votes Down Fracking Ban Amendment”
Sometimes anti-drillers become unhinged and behave very badly. Case in point: Susquehanna County’s most famous anti-driller Vera Scroggins, who used her potty mouth on FrackNation filmmaker Phelim McAleer in January when Phelim tagged along to ask Yoko Ono and Susan Sarandon about fracking when they came to Susquehanna County (in a Mercedes bus) to promote Artists Against Fracking. Scroggins didn’t like McAleer posing tough questions to the goddesses she worships, so she made it her mission to use every foul word and anti-Irish, prejudiced comment she could think of to insult McAleer, making a video of it and posting it on Youtube (see “The Final Ploy of the Desperate” Natural Gas Opponents).
You can appreciate that the normally patient folks of rural Susquehanna County grow tired of Vera’s antics. At a recent county commissioners meeting, a Susquehanna County official had had enough of Vera’s tiresome antics and actually called her “stupid” before the assembled audience. Cool! Wish we had been there to video it and put it on Youtube. Here is what prompted the outburst:
Read More “PA County Official Calls Local Anti-Driller “Stupid” at Meeting”
Even though New York State is an economic and jobs-creating disaster area with no prospect of shale drilling to lift it from the economic basement any time soon, some New York-based companies are still profiting from the shale boom–that is the shale boom happening across the border in Pennsylvania. One such company is R3 Fusion, Inc. in Troy, NY. R3 makes technology that recycles fracking wastewater for reuse, and they’ve just sold an installation of their technology to Hydro Recovery in Blossburg, PA.
The R3 announcement:
Read More “NY Company Sells Frack Wastewater Technology to PA Site”
The Altoona (PA) Water Authority is hoping to sell water for Marcellus Shale drilling to Chevron for drilling they have planned in the Coupon, PA area. There is no agreement yet, but the signs are there: Chevron is in talks with the City of Altoona to arrange a highway maintenance agreement…
Read More “Altoona, PA Plans to Sell Water to Chevron for Fracking”
The New York-based Manhattan Institute, a non-profit think tank with a mission “to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility,” released a new report yesterday titled, “The Economic Effects of Hydrofracturing on Local Economies: A Comparison of New York and Pennsylvania” (full copy embedded below). The report finds that if New York lifted its moratorium on fracking, it would mean billions of dollars in income for upstate New Yorkers and for the state as a whole.
MI researchers closely examined counties in Pennsylvania and found a) those counties with shale wells did better economically, b) the more wells, the better they did, c) counties with shale wells experienced double-digit rises in per capita income, and d) perhaps most surprisingly, PA counties with no shale wells or fracking saw per capita incomes rise an average 8%! Across the board, fracking has benefited PA enormously and this report proves it. The authors also say NY is screwing itself (our words) if it continues to ban fracking…
Read More “Manhattan Institute Study: Lifting NY Frack Ban Would Mean Billions”
Is the damage already done in New York? Will drillers bother to show up if local municipalities can decide on a whim to ban fracking? At least one prominent industry leader has publicly gone on the record with her concerns that the promise of drilling in NY is slipping away with the ongoing statewide moratorium and the recent court case that went against landowners and drillers (see Breaking: NY Court Upholds Local Town Frack Bans).
Karen Moreau, executive director of the New York State Petroleum Council, a division of the American Petroleum Institute (API), spoke to NGI’s Shale Daily on Monday and made these comments:
Read More “State & Local Frack Bans: Is the Damage Already Done in NY?”
On Friday, MDN reported to you the disappointing decision from the NY Supreme Court Appellate Division that upholds the right of local towns in New York to ban gas drilling and fracking within their boundaries (see Breaking: NY Court Upholds Local Town Frack Bans). Scott Kurkoski, the attorney for the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York and the attorney of record who argued one of the two cases before the court (the Middlefield case), held a press conference on Friday to discuss the decision and to answer the question, “Where do we go from here?” MDN editor Jim Willis went along to the presser. As important as this decision was, you would think a press conference held by one of the lead attorneys in the case would attract a lot of attention. There was exactly one other reporter there–from YNN (Time Warner Cable’s Your News Now). That’s it. Two of us showed up.
Still, talking with Scott is a pleasure and we always come away with new information. Friday was no different. Here’s the insight he gave the two of us about the recent decision and what the future holds:
Read More “JLCNY Lawyer Holds Press Conference on Court’s Ban Decision”
The town board of Woodstock, NY (say no more, right?) wants New York State to criminalize fracking and passed a resolution supporting its criminalization back in January. Apparently the wizards of smart in Woodstock don’t know that low volume fracking of conventional gas wells has been going on in New York for decades–with no water contamination, no adverse public health affects, no ill effects of any consequence.
Now, Woodstock is attempting to infect other nearby town boards in Ulster County, including Rosendale, with the same contagion–stupidness…
Read More “Woodstock, Other NY Towns Want Fracking Criminalized”
The nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy, research and education organization the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) published a new report last week titled “The Benefits of Natural Gas Production and Exports for U.S. Small Businesses” (full copy embedded below). The report looks at the period 2005-2010 and the rocket growth in jobs and new small businesses created by shale drilling in states like OH, PA and WV–three of the ten states highlighted in the report. It also looks forward to the opportunity for small businesses should the U.S. start to export natural gas.
An overview of the report from the SBE Council:
Read More “Report: Benefits of NatGas Production/Exports for Small Biz”
It is a day of disappointment, but also a day of resolve, for landowners in New York State. Yesterday, the NY Supreme Court Appellate Division in a 4-0 decision ruled towns have the right to ban hydraulic fracturing and natural gas drilling. MDN has previously chronicled the long fight against a simple majority of three town board members unilaterally stripping away the rights of all property owners in a township to allow natural gas drilling. The matter came to a head when lawsuits were filed in two of those cases, the towns of Dryden (Tompkins County, near Ithaca), and Middlefield, (Otsego County, near Cooperstown)–see Town Frack Ban Cases Heard in NY Supreme Court Appellate Division for important background information.
The 77,000-member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, whose lawyer, Scott Kurkoski, represented a JLCNY member in the Middlefield case, has responded to the loss (below) by saying they intend to appeal the decision to the next, and highest, court in New York–the Court of Appeals. MDN has a copy of the court’s decision (embedded below), reaction from the near-orgasmic anti-drilling eco-nuts, and our view of what it all means for the future of drilling in NY…
Read More “Breaking: NY Court Upholds Local Town Frack Bans”
MDN received the following notice from documentary filmmaker Phelim McAleer, creative force behind the excellent FrackNation documentary. Phelim will be speaking at a screening of FrackNation in Sullivan County, NY on May 8, and he (and the residents of Sullivan County) have invited movie star Mark Ruffalo (one of his many homes is located in Sullivan County) to attend the screening…
Read More “Mark Ruffalo Invited to Upstate NY Screening of FrackNation”
Logic has taken a vacation in Albany, NY. Gov. Andrew “The Ditherer” Cuomo is holding closed-door meetings to discuss how to spark economic development in the most taxed, most regulated, least business-friendly and most welfare beneficent state in the country (does that give you a hint why we’re in trouble?).
The one thing Cuomo and the “brains” sitting around the table are not discussing–the one that that would create thousands of new jobs and create billions in economic impact throughout the state? Fracking for clean-burning natural gas…
Read More “Cuomo: We’re Not Touching the Frack Issue During Economic Talks”
It’s now painfully obvious for all to see that NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo has instructed his underlings–DEC Commissioner Joe Martens and Health Commissioner Nirav Shah–to drag their feet on releasing a recommendation with regard to fracking. Starting in February and then again in March, Shah said he anticipated being done with his review “in a few weeks” (see NY Health Com. Nirav Shah Says Fracking Health Review Almost Done).
This week? Shah says there’s “no timetable” for a decision. Obviously Shah has already completed his review and likely discussed it with Andy the Ditherer and Andy, just like dear old dad, just doesn’t want to commit. Too bad–this issue has ruined any small chance Cuomo may have had in the 2016 presidential sweepstakes. Here’s the latest “I’m covering my boss’ rear-end” statements from Shah:
Read More “Cuomo Underling Shah: “No Timetable” on Fracking Decision”
On Monday, the head of the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, James Zehringer, asked Ohio Senators to restore a number of non-budget-related oil and gas provisions to the budget bill scrapped by the House in the version they passed. The provisions could be brought back if the Senate includes them and the final version is agreed to in committee.
The provisions Zehringer wants added back?…
Read More “ODNR Wants Fracking Regs Added Back to Kasich Budget Bill”