NY Lawmakers Ask Gov. Cuomo to Ban New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure
Barbara Lifton is a dangerously stupid person. Dangerous because she happens to be an elected member of the New York State Assembly–representing the ultra-liberal bastion of Ithaca, NY. Lifton has long opposed shale drilling in the state, but her hatred of shale drilling has now spilled over and metastasized into a full-blown, irrational hatred of all fossil fuels. Lifton and 21 other energy no-nothings in the NY state legislature sent a signed letter to Gov. Andrew “man-child” Cuomo asking him to halt all state approvals of pipelines, compressor stations, power plants, and gas storage facilities. Essentially–stop any more development of energy that comes from fossil fuels. Even though, as we reported Wednesday, last year 81.5% of all energy used in this country (and in New York State) came from fossil fuels (see Last Year Fossil Fuels Provided 81.5% of All Energy Used in U.S.). That’s the stupid part. Lifton and her cronies are advocating that we dump the source of 81.5% of our energy. Let’s play a “what if?” game. If such a thing were done, if we stopped using fossil fuels in New York State, we would be instantly transported back to the Stone Ages, complete with mass death and disease. Ninety percent or more of the population would either have to move, or die. Here’s the humorous part: The letter Lifton signed requesting an energy holocaust was produced on a computer made from plastics (i.e. fossil fuels) and powered with electricity from fossil fuels. The clothes she wore at a rally in Binghamton to announce this lunacy were made from plastic fibers (i.e. fossil fuels), and she got to the rally from Ithaca in a vehicle powered by fossil fuels, riding in a vehicle and on tires made from fossil fuels. You get our drift. Pure insanity. Here’s a report about the letter, the rally, and the dangerously stupid Barbara Lifton…
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Boom. The trigger was pulled and the depressed mental patient–in this case the Friendsville Town Council, has committed fracking suicide. MDN told you in March that the unfriendly people of Friendsville, Maryland were contemplating fracking suicide (see 
This is how it works with adults, those who wear “big boy pants.” A few weeks ago the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) told Energy Transfer that their Rover pipeline, a $3.7 billion, 711-mile Marcellus/Utica natural gas pipeline that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada, and Columbia Pipeline that their Leach XPress pipeline, running from Marshall County, WV through Ohio to Leach, KY, that a small section where the pipelines cross must be reworked or it’s a “no go” for both projects (see 
We’ve written plenty about President Obama’s so-called Clean Power Plan (CPP), introduced last summer, a plan to force electric generators to convert to using more “renewable” sources of energy–and less fossil fuels (see 
Earlier this month MDN shared with you the news that Munroe Falls (Summit County), OH had filed yet another frivolous lawsuit against Beck Energy to prevent drilling–after already losing a similar case before the Ohio Supreme Court (see 
The litigious Sierra Club, an environmental organization that may have been founded for good reasons long ago but has become radicalized in their opposition to all fossil fuels, was dealt a serious legal blow last week. None other than the very liberal District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Sierra Club–responding to a lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club that tries to force the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to consider factors not within their purview when deciding on whether or not to issue permits for LNG (liquefied natural gas) facilities. The court decision directly affects two Gulf Coast LNG facilities but also has implications for the Cove Point, Maryland LNG export facility currently under construction by Dominion, now about half completed. The Sierra Club tried to argue that the more LNG you export, the more drilling (i.e. “upstream”) activity is needed, and drilling activity and what it produces (natural gas) is causing man-made global warming. Ergo FERC should be required to consider those “impacts” when making its decision on permitting such facilities. The problem is, under FERC’s charter they are specifically NOT allowed to consider such peripheral considerations. FERC is to make its decisions based on real science: Would a potential project impact the local ecology and environment in a negative way? If so, it doesn’t get a permit. The normally chatty Sierra Club went silent following the court’s decision…
A new bill in the Pennsylvania legislature, Senate Bill (SB) 1327 looks to undo some of the damage done by the now departed anti-drilling Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently introduced draconian new rules to govern methane emissions from oil and gas drilling (see 
Relief is on the way for some Ohio landowners who want to see drilling on or under their land, but have been held up because their land border state-owned land belonging to the Ohio Dept. of Transportation (DOT). Apparently the DOT (and/or the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, or ODNR) has been reluctant to pool or unitize land under DOT control to allow shale drilling. OH Gov. John Kasich has just signed House Bill (HB) 390 into law–a new law that gives the the ODNR 45 days to pool DOT-controlled land into units so drillers can begin drilling under it. Although the bill forces units to be issued, it allows drillers up to two years to begin their drilling after the units are issued, given the low prices in the market right now…
As MDN reported two days ago, the Maryland Dept. of the Environment (MDE) held a public hearing in Baltimore to elicit feedback on changes to the state’s proposed fracking regulations–already the tightest, harshest such regulations in the country (see 
A few days ago MDN told you about the fruitless efforts by anti-drilling zealots in Youngstown, OH in delivering a petition for a sixth vote on a frack ban measure for the November ballot (see 
Last weekend the United States Conference of Mayors held their annual conference in Indianapolis, IN. Following the meeting, a small group of 30 mayors–a few from larger cities like Pittsburgh and Charlotte, but most from small cities–signed a letter urging state and federal officials to allow local municipalities (like theirs) to ban fracking. It’s all couched in terms of “home rule” language, but the desire is to allow local governments to deny their citizens their Constitutional property rights. Near as we can tell, all 30 of the mayors signing the letter are liberal Democrats. The press release and letter were issued by the virulently anti-drilling Environment America, a Big Green group…
Three radicalized environmental groups–the Allegheny Defense Project, the Appalachian Mountain Advocates and Damascus Citizens for Sustainability–have filed a motion with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to challenge FERC’s approval of three tiny pipeline expansion projects in Pennsylvania. Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s 300 line is proposing to expand three different segments of the line, serving different customers, and rightfully asked FERC to consider the three projects as separate and to not commingle them together. The radicalized groups are insisting FERC evaluate all three bundled together, in an attempt to slow down and hopefully stop progress on the projects…