Lansing NatGas Moratorium Preview of What’s Coming for All NYers
In Lansing, NY, just outside of Planet Ithaca in Tompkins County, the local utility (NYSEG) wanted to build a short pipeline in 2017 to supply new customers with natural gas, but was blocked by crazies who irrationally hate fossil fuels (see Lansing NY Officials Fight Back Against Tinfoil Hat Fossil Fuel Haters). The pipeline was never built and since that time businesses and homeowners who wanted to build in the town have gone elsewhere. There’s the unmistakable stench of economic death in the air around Lansing (see Natgas Customer Moratorium Killing Ithaca Suburb of Lansing, NY). The kooks and quacks in town are now promoting electric heat pumps as the solution to the town’s problems.
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Once again the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC), a corrupt political tool in the hands of an autocratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, has issued a denial of a federal Clean Water Act Section 401 water crossing permit for the National Fuel Gas Company’s Northern Access Pipeline project. Fortunately, DEC’s rejection doesn’t mean a hill of beans since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) overruled the DEC last year.
In April President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to review Section 401 of the Clean Water Act–the section that grants states (and tribes) the right to have a say in pipeline projects (see
Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, is a vicious politician. He operates much like a mafia boss. Case in point: Cuomo refuses to allow a new pipeline to be built to the New York City (and Long Island) region, called the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project (see 
A small group of New York landowners in Tioga County, NY continue to pressure the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to allow them to drill and frack a single Utica well using LPG, or liquefied petroleum gas (i.e. propane). The DEC under the direction of Andrew Cuomo continues to purposely drag its feet in approving the project. The landowners are not giving up and hope to prove that fracking in NY can happen. They’re keepin’ the dream alive.
A new group has formed in New York State with the aim of using a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision as ammunition to sue NY over its ban on hydraulic fracturing. The new group, called Landowner Advocates of New York (LANY), was started by MDN friend Vic Furman. Could this finally be the solution to force Andrew Cuomo to allow fracking?
This is no joke. It’s not an “Onion” piece where we’re trying to fool you. In June the New York State legislature passed a horrific “energy” bill that was later signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (see
A radical anti-fossil fuel group (rich snobs) from Cooperstown, NY, in Otsego County (calling themselves Otsego 2000), sued the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in federal court a year ago to try and stop a project to build a couple of compressor stations in upstate New York, using the argument global warming wasn’t factored into the decision-making process (see
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tried to stop a fully built, brand new natural gas-fired electric generating plant in Orange County from going operational last year by instructing his Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to deny renewing an air permit it had approved just five years earlier (see
New York State is so screwed. Let’s just be honest–there’s no saving the Empire State now. (We can say these things because we live here.) Following the passage of a recent law (see
In a sad development, the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGANY) is losing its superb executive director, Brad Gill (an MDN friend), and its paid office staff, in an effort to cut expenses. The administration of Governor Andrew Cuomo has been hostile to the oil and gas industry in NY–not only with a ban on fracking, but also with new environmental regulations that affect conventional drillers. Cuomo’s actions are having a negative effect on O&G in NY, and IOGANY is dealing with the fallout as best they can. The board of directors is slimming down and will now handle the day-to-day affairs of the association. Along with several other current directors, Brad will remain involved with IOGANY but in a different capacity while he pursues his other oil and gas interests.