Latest Anti-Drilling Attack on Constitution Pipeline: “It’s Illegal”
We’ve noticed a renewed effort on the part of anti-drillers to stop the already FERC-authorized Constitution Pipeline, slated to run from Susquehanna County, PA–where they can actually drill for natural gas–through upstate New York to Schoharie County (see FERC Issues Final Approval for Constitution Pipeline in PA/NY). New York State’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) must grant what’s called a 401 Water Quality Certificate that allows the Constitution to lay pipe through and under swamps, creeks and other bodies of water. The DEC held a series of public hearings on the Constitution (see Pro-Drillers Out in Force at Constitution Pipeline Hearing in Binghamton). Last week the time for public comment closed–which is why we’re now seeing anti-drillers launching a coordinated attack, as a last-ditch effort to stop the Constitution. Their attack includes sympathetic (and sycophantic) media stories and an attempt to re-brand the Constitution as “the Keystone XL pipeline of natural gas.” What a joke! Bobby Kennedy Jr. went on MSNBC (a network virtually no one watches) to make some outrageously false claims about the Constitution pipeline and FERC. It all adds up to a well-coordinated, well-funded attack by Big Environment trust funders…
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New York’s anti-drillers are still not happy–even after winning a ban by pressuring a spineless governor. They continue to rally and agitate and spread lies and threats and tell scary stories of environmental boogeymen…”that pipeline’ll kill ya”…”the fracked gas comin’ out the stove has radon in it”…”the compressor station three miles from your house that you didn’t even know existed is poisonin’ Mother Earth.” Why do they persist long after they’ve won? Are they empty in the soul and only find meaning in these silly pursuits and endless meetings? Do they have otherwise meaningless lives? Is there a permanent cloud over their heads no matter the circumstance? Who knows. Here’s the latest “fracking will still kill New Yorkers–even though there is no fracking in New York” event this Thursday, starring the so-called “distinguished scholar in residence” at Ithaca College, Sandra Steingraber…
There is an effort underway–a serious effort–for towns along the border in some upstate New York counties to secede from New York State and join Pennsylvania. Why? Because of New York’s ban on hydraulic fracturing. And no, this is not an early April Fool’s joke. MDN first started hearing of secession talk shortly after Gov. Cuomo’s disgraceful cabinet meeting in which he let bootlickers Howard Zucker (State Health Commissioner) and Joe Martens (DEC Commissioner) take the fall for a ban on fracking–a ban Cuomo himself wanted. We saw some signs and heard a few mentions of secession and chalked it up to understandably high emotions over Cuomo stealing away their future. But it seems it’s not just so much hot air. A group called the Upstate New York Towns Association has done some polling and found 15 towns along the border area of NY are ready to make the leap. There are, however, some major hurdles in the way…
MDN has the low-down on proposed new federal legislation we first told you about yesterday, the Defense of Property Rights Act (see 
It’s a wrap. MDN predicts one day we’ll look back on January 5 and the pro-drilling rally hosted by the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York as the date when landowners and those of us who support shale drilling fully committed ourselves to ending Andrew Cuomo’s frack ban in New York State. We will one day look back and say, “It all started there, on that date–our eventual victory.” Landowners now understand they cannot be silent, they cannot depend on lawsuits alone, to change the situation in New York. Landowners, union members and even those without land but who support drilling were at the rally in huge numbers, they were mad and they expressed their willingness to fight to protect our Constitutional property rights. Make no mistake, it will be a fight. MDN previously wrote up our impressions of the meeting (see