Let’s Use Anti-Drillers’ Road Map to Win the Fracking War in NY
The preening and pretentious Chip Northrup has weighed in on how and why a “rag tag” band of hippies “won” in New York’s battle to ban fracking. Chip pretends to be Somebody in the oil and gas world, implying that he’s run oil/gas operations, when all he has done is invest in oil wells with his trust fund money. Chip has a summer home in Cooperstown, NY where he likes to attend local lib cocktail parties–so he became a minor anti-fracking celebrity due to his “oil and gas connections”–a kind of “whistleblower” from “the industry” who appeared on anti-fracking television stations (in Albany) and gave interviews to anti-fracking “reporters” (in Albany) to talk about the horrors of fracking. He’s a real legend in his own mind. Anywho, Chip outlines for us on his No Fracking Way blog how his side won this round. We found this graf interesting and instructive, where he describes his side’s “stalking” (their word) of Gov. Andrew Cuomo…
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Pushing dirt around on drill pads can get very expensive if you don’t have a signed piece of paper in your hand that says, “Mother May I?” XTO Energy, the shale-drilling subsidiary of ExxonMobil, has just learned that the hard way. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) along with the U.S. Dept. of Justice announced a settlement yesterday with XTO–fining the company $2.3 million because “fill material” (i.e. dirt and rocks) got into nearby streams and swamps in several West Virginia counties when XTO pushed that dirt and rocks around to construct roads and well pads. Oh, and XTO has to “undo” the damage, spending another $3 million or so. Total price tag of $5.3 million for violating the “Mother May I?” Clean Water Act. If XTO had had the proper paperwork, they wouldn’t have been fined. The jack boots of the feds come down again…
More evidence to support what MDN has been telling you: That nutjob anti-fossil fuelers are using the New York decision to ban fracking in an attempt to bully other states (see 
The most compelling “let the science decide” reason for banning fracking in NY given by Gov. Andrew Cuomo? Because his hand-picked Commissioner of the Dept. of Health, Howard Zucker, said he wouldn’t let his own kids play outside near a fracking site. If you actually read the biased report filed by Zucker, you find the following: a) Zucker says there are no scientific conclusions, as of yet, that fracking harms “public health”–he clearly admits it, and b) he laundry lists a bunch of “studies” and reports that are not peer reviewed, not published, and funded by anti-drilling groups to disparage fracking. He overlooked and left out published, peer reviewed studies that say fracking doesn’t harm people. That is, Zucker stacked the deck, he loaded the dice–whatever metaphor you want to use. The outcome was predetermined (a political decision by Cuomo) and Zucker prostituted himself and has permanently damaged his own reputation by being the “fall guy” for Cuomo’s decision. We expect it’s a quid pro quo–Zucker finds against fracking in return for moving from “Acting” Commissioner to full Commissioner at the DOH–a job he’s clearly not qualified for. Keep an eye out for Zucker’s permanent appointment in the near future. When you see it, you’ll know the fix was in…
New York State remains closed for business. It is the single most business unfriendly state in the union, we’re ashamed to admit. But face the truth we must. Yesterday, NY Gov. Andrew “spineless” Cuomo took heat and questions from reporters over his decision to ban fracking in the Empire State. It was a shameful performance–he once again tried to hide behind the skirts of his health and environmental commissioners. Here’s some of his comments to reporters: