An editorial in yesterday’s New York Post says that New York DEC Commissioner Joe Martens is leading a mutiny against Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the matter of allowing hydraulic fracturing to move forward in the state and asks the question, Is Gov. Cuomo up to the task of putting down the mutiny? Good question!
The editorial begins this way:
Read More “How Will NY Gov Cuomo Handle the Fracking Mutiny?”
A New York Times article slanted to be anti-drilling, but nonetheless comes out pretty balanced overall, examines the personal nature of the debate over fracking in New York State by examining the neighbor against neighbor conflict in Cooperstown, NY.
From the article:
Read More “Gas Drilling Debate Gets Personal in Cooperstown, NY”
MDN received the following invitation for New York landowners who support drilling to participate in a debate in Nyack, NY (near New York City) on Dec. 1st:
Read More “Any Pro-Drilling NY Landowners Interested in Debating?”
An excellent commentary in today’s New York Post by Abby Wisse Schachter addresses the fear mongering and just plain kookiness heard from anti-drillers. From the opening:
New York state just announced another delay in what has become a more-than-four-year process to approve widespread natural-gas drilling. Over that time, the state has lost tens of thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of business — and the opposition to drilling has only gotten more entrenched and radical.
Gov. Cuomo should not be swayed by such hysteria.
An Oct. 6 New York Policy Forum panel on gas drilling is a case in point. At it, Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan participated in a discussion of hydro-fracking, the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock. He argued that New York doesn’t need natural gas to power its economic future.
“You can do other things … You can save so much energy just by switching to wood pellets,” Ryan claimed. “If you combine that with retrofitting all the rural properties … you’ll produce thousands of jobs.”
Wood pellets. What century does Ryan think this is?*
Longtime Albany, NY Mayor (and a Democrat!) Jerry Jennings has just vetoed a City Common Council measure to ban hydraulic fracturing inside the city.
Read More “Albany NY Mayor Jerry Jennings (D) Vetoes Fracking Ban”
Now that New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens has let the cat out of the bag that Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling permits will likely not be issued in 2012, the mainstream media has come along to prop him up with excuse stories for why New York will continue to delay drilling—to give Martens political cover for the coming firestorm. The simple fact is, the longer drilling is delayed, the more likely it will never happen—and anti-drillers know it. MDN believes these delays are by design, not an “aw shucks, things are jest turnin’ out this way” as Mr. Martens wants us to believe.
And so Gannett comes out with a story that blames other state agencies for the delay, because Martens’ hand-picked Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel, stacked with anti-drillers, wants other agencies to do its work:
Read More “Martens Blames Other State Agencies for Delay in NY Drilling”
Groups opposed to shale gas drilling have organized to purchase radio advertisements promoting an effort to get residents to write one million letters to Gov. Andrew Cuomo asking him to ban hydraulic fracturing. It’s not entirely clear who is funding the effort.
Read More “NY Anti-Drilling Groups Launch Campaign to Write 1M Letters”
In what is surely a blow to landowners in New York, the Commissioner of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Joe Martens, signaled yesterday that drilling permits may not be issued in 2012 as previously hoped. The delay this time comes from the Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel appointed by Martens and stacked with anti-drilling members who supposedly are there to advise Martens on implementing new regulations to allow shale gas drilling (see this MDN story for background on the panel).
It looks like Martens’ strategy of stacking the panel with anti-drillers has paid off and will now delay shale gas drilling beyond 2012. Martens clearly does not want shale gas drilling to proceed in New York. Will this be the final tipping point before landowners take the state to court to demand their property rights stop being violated?
Read More “NY DEC Commissioner Signals Drilling May Not Begin in 2012”
In a purely symbolic gesture, the Syracuse (NY) Common Council yesterday voted to ban the use of hydraulic fracturing inside city limits to drill for natural gas. It’s symbolic because new drilling rules, if ever released in New York, specifically prohibit drilling in the Syracuse watershed area. But politicians like Democrat Kathleen Joy, the driving force for getting the ban adopted, don’t let facts get in the way of political grandstanding.
Norse Energy’s big gamble that New York would allow shale gas drilling sooner than now has not paid off and they are throwing in the towel, attempting to find a buyer for their 130,000-acre leasehold in the state.
New York’s passage of new drilling rules to allow for shale gas drilling has had more twists than a Greek tragedy and has taken longer to finish than a death scene in an opera. MDN has asked the rhetorical question, several times, that even IF new rules are passed and permits are issued, will drilling companies bother to show up? See this MDN article from March of this year. Now, others are starting to raise the same question:
The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports on a rumor in today’s paper about a company in Endicott (Broome County, NY) thinking about treating fracking wastewater:
Read More “Rumor: Endicott Company May Want to Treat Fracking Wastewater”
A list of 250+ physicians and other health care professionals, along with the usual group of opposition groups, sent a letter to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday requesting more study of shale gas drilling’s affects on health before approving new regulations and issuing permits to drill. A copy of their letter is embedded below.
A copy of the list of “health care professionals” which includes doctors, nurses, psychologists, veterinarians, dentists, professors, students and others is listed below in case those who support drilling might want to re-think whether or not they continue using the services of these people given their activist stance against drilling.
Read More “List of Health Care Pros Who Oppose Gas Drilling in NY”
The full version of New York’s new proposed drilling guidelines, known as the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) has been out in its full and “final” form for about three weeks (see this MDN story). At the time of the final release, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) said the actual language of the regulations, the changes to existing oil and gas drilling regulations for New York, would come out “in early October.” The new language has just been released by the DEC, so, after criticizing Joe Martens (Commissioner of the DEC) for many things, MDN grants him an “at-a-boy” for releasing the language earlier than expected. The early release of the new regulation language further diffuses the argument by critics that they don’t have enough time to read and understand what’s coming.
The new regulatory language is important because it carries the weight of law once it’s adopted. Here are links to the sections that are either changed, or where new sections have been added:
Read More “NY Proposed Regulation Changes for Drilling Now Available”
Hey, it’s another week, so that must mean it’s time for another New York opinion poll. We can’t seem to let a week go by without taking the temperature of the Empire State on the issue of hydraulic fracturing. This poll is an ongoing monthly poll done by Siena College. The actual questions and percentage responses are embedded below.
Read More “Siena College Poll: NYers Still Closely Divided on Fracking”
MDN recently reported about two lawsuits filed (so far) in New York State that will set precedent in the state on the issue of whether or not local municipalities (i.e. townships) can ban gas drilling altogether within their borders.
One of those lawsuits, filed against the Town of Middlefield in Otsego County, was filed by landowner Jennifer Huntington (see the MDN story here). Her lawsuit says the town’s ban violates state law which stipulates only the state can regulate oil and gas drilling. The key word there is “regulate.”
Read More “Middlefield, NY Lawsuit: The Town’s Counterargument”