New York

Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Marcellus/Utica States Slip in Global Petroleum Survey
November 21, 2013November 21, 2013

Each year, the Canadian-based Fraser Institute surveys petroleum industry executives and managers (864 of them for 2013) asking them their opinions on the barriers to investing in exploration and production in various geographies across the globe. That is, what makes them more likely or less likely to spend money drilling in a particular location? It’s vitally important to understand what drives investors because without money, drilling doesn’t happen.

The Global Petroleum Survey, as it’s called, tallies the survey responses and ranks each geography from most desirable place to invest, to least desirable. MDN reported the rankings last year (see Energy Execs Rank Drilling Locations Including WV, OH, PA, NY). A copy of this year’s full report/rankings is embedded below. How did Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and (yes) New York fare this year, compared to last?…
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Chenango County | New York

Cornell “Shale Gas Team” Visits Norwich, NY
November 21, 2013November 21, 2013

Cornell was once a great university–before lazy liberal opinion started to substitute for real scientific investigation (a la Tony Ingraffea, Robert Howarth, et al). Oh there’s still a few good profs at Cornell, profs that do real research, like Larry Cathles, Larry Brown and Andrew Hunter. But by and large Cornell has just faded into the background when it comes to being a voice on shale energy and energy research. Cornell is a has been.

So we found it interesting that a group of Cornell profs and grad students calling themselves the Cornell Shale Gas Team made a visit to Norwich, NY this week (MDN editor Jim Willis’ home town) to offer an “information seminar” on current issues and research in shale. Who knew there was a “Shale Gas Team” at Cornell? Jim couldn’t be there in person (he wasn’t aware of it!), but the Norwich Evening Sun had a reporter who filed this:
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Congressman Chides Cuomo for Continued Fracking Delay
November 21, 2013November 21, 2013

Well there’s at least one New York Congressman with a spine–willing to stand up and call Gov. Andrew “can’t make up his mind on fracking” Cuomo what he is: someone who kowtows to fringe anti-drilling, anti-business wackos. Republican Congressman Chris Collins represents the 27th district in western NY–everywhere from the edge of Buffalo to the edge of Rochester, and from Lake Ontario to halfway down the state. It’s a large district.

Collins was speaking on the floor of the house yesterday in support of H.R. 2728 (see our companion story today on the two pro-drilling House bills that passed yesterday). Here’s Collins chiding his lordship Andy:
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Cuomo Continues to Stall on Fracking in NY, Decision by Nov 2014
November 18, 2013November 18, 2013

In case you missed it, Gov. Andrew “the ditherer” Cuomo was asked the day after the November election by Binghamton reporter Bob Joseph (WNBF Radio) if he expects to make a decision on fracking before next November’s election. And Cuomo said, “Yes, I do.” Meaning, “Yes, I expect to make a decision, but I’ll hedge my bets and delay that decision as long as I can” (our words, but his real meaning).

Real presidential leadership by our fearless governor, wouldn’t you say? What a waste of a politician. No different than his prevaricating father Mario…
Read More “Cuomo Continues to Stall on Fracking in NY, Decision by Nov 2014”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

JLCNY Landowner Lawsuit Against NY & Gov. Cuomo Ready to Go
November 14, 2013November 14, 2013

MDN recently received an email update from the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY)–posted below. The JLCNY reports their “takings” lawsuit against New York State, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, DEC Commissioner Joe Martens and State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah is now ready to go. Cuomo, Martens and Shah together form a cabal working against NY landowners by intentionally denying them their 5th Amendment Constitutional private property rights without just compensation. The JLCNY is ready to expose the cabal by filing this case.

According to JLCNY President, Dan Fitzsimmons, the legal team spent over 300 hours preparing the necessary court documentation, called a “complaint” in legalese (we’ve embedded a copy of the complaint below). The lawsuit will be filed on behalf of six New York landowners. The landowners are not (yet) named in the complaint, but if you read the complaint, you’ll see each one is uniquely identified–these are real people that are ready to go to court…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York | Property Value | Tompkins County

Ithaca, NY Bank Won’t Grant Mortgage on Land with Drilling Lease
November 13, 2013November 13, 2013

New York landowners who are pro-drilling may want to consider whether or not to continue doing business with Tompkins Financial Corporation, a bank/wealth management/insurance firm based in Ithaca, NY. Why? They refuse to give a mortgage on any property under lease with a drilling company. They’re attempting to blame federal guidelines from Fannie Mae as their excuse. Sorry Charlie, that doesn’t fly. It’s anti-drilling prejudice plain and simple.

Two other banks you may want to reconsider doing business with: Spain’s Santander Bank and State Employees’ Credit Union in Raleigh, N.C. Same reason…
Read More “Ithaca, NY Bank Won’t Grant Mortgage on Land with Drilling Lease”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Erie County (NY) | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Dems’ Testy Response to Criticism of Andy’s Fracking Indecision
November 11, 2013November 11, 2013

This is rich. The head of the Republican Party in New York State, Ed Cox, criticizes Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the issue of his impotency on the fracking issue (see Andrew Cuomo: Hamlet on the Shale), and the Democrats are so thin-skinned they immediately call for an investigation of Cox for “unethical or potentially illegal” actions. You can tell how vulnerable Andy and the Dems are on this issue by the way they misuse their power to try and obliterate all dissenting views.

Democrat State Sen. Timothy Kennedy of Buffalo is the latest shill to rise up and defend his boy Andy, calling for an investigation of Cox…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Andrew Cuomo: Hamlet on the Shale
November 6, 2013November 6, 2013

New York GOP Chairman Ed Cox makes a trip to Buffalo today to deliver the keynote address at the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York’s annual conference. The title of his speech is, appropriately: “Andrew Cuomo: Hamlet on the Shale.” The title has echoes of his father, former governor of New York Mario Cuomo, who was known as Hamlet on the Hudson for his inability to make decisions on important issues. Apparently the apples does not fall far from the tree. Andy can’t make up his mind either–the mark of a weak leader.

Cox debuted a number of the points he will make in his speech last week in a New York Post column by Fred Dicker:
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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | New York | Pipelines | Statewide NY | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Kinder Morgan Opens the Valves on TGP Northeast Upgrade
November 4, 2013November 4, 2013

Good news for those who live in the northeastern U.S.–Kinder Morgan, owner of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline, said on Friday they have thrown the switch (or in this case opened the valves) on their new $500 million Northeast Upgrade Project. The upgrade to TGP’s system in Pennsylvania and New Jersey adds 636,000 dekatherms per day of additional capacity to the system, which means more Marcellus Shale gas is now flowing to markets like New York City and the coast of NJ.

This is very good news indeed. Kinder Morgan’s announcement from Friday:
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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Latest Laughable NY Anti Tactic – Not Enough Gas, Just Move Along
November 1, 2013November 1, 2013

A couple of nights ago a group of four retired anti-drilling ~~hippies~~ “smart people” tried the latest tact in the sad tale of frackless (and feckless) New York: Try to convince the unthinking masses with charts and maps and bamboozling bullcrap that recoverable, profitable natural gas stops at the border of Pennsylvania and New York. Yes that’s right folks. “Don’t bother to drill in NY because there just ain’t enough gas in the ground to make it worthwhile.” That’s what passed for smart and insightful, as delivered by Jerry Acton (pictured), Chip Northrup, Lou Allstadt and Brian Brock (anti-drillers all) at the once great Cornell University.

Master of ceremonies? The itinerant stand-up comedian and Cornell professor, Tony Ingraffea, of course…
Read More “Latest Laughable NY Anti Tactic – Not Enough Gas, Just Move Along”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

LNG Storage/Fueling Stations Latest Anti-Drilling Target in NY
October 31, 2013October 31, 2013

New York State is first in all of the things you don’t want to be first in–like having the highest unemployment and taxes of any state in the union–and dead last in all the things you don’t want to be last in. Example: New York is the only state that does not allow liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage and LNG fueling stations. Translation: All of those new trucking fleets being purchased by UPS and other companies can’t operate in New York because there’s no place to fuel up.

LNG fueling stations have nothing to do with whether or not NY decides to allow fracking, but anti-drillers are attempting to make a connection anyway. A group of more than 100 anti-drillers piled into a hearing room in Albany yesterday to tell the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation they oppose the DEC’s plan to allow LNG storage and fueling stations. The usual crowd of hippie retreads from groups like Catskill Mountainkeeper and NY Public Interest Research Group showed up to mouth off–then they piled back into buses powered by dirty diesel fuel to head back to New York City from whence they came. Rank hypocrites, the lot of them…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

When Will We Know if NY Will See Fracking? June 2014
October 29, 2013

A question MDN is frequently asked… Q: When will the issue of fracking in New York State really and truly be decided–and by whom? A: June 2014, by the NY Court of Appeals. “Not by Gov. Cuomo?” you ask. Nope. He’ll come around, eventually. The real issue has always been whether or not entire towns can ban fracking based on the vote of 3 or 4 people who sit on a town board–a vote that denies every citizen in that town their Constitutional private property rights. Two cases now before the New York Court of Appeals will decide the issue once and for all.

Thanks to the lead attorney for one of those cases–Scott Kurkoski, attorney for the “Middlefield” case–we now have insight into how and when this will all progress from now through June of next year. It started yesterday when briefs were filed by Kurkoski (for Middlefield) and by Albany-area attorney Tom West (for the “Dryden” case) with the Court of Appeals…
Read More “When Will We Know if NY Will See Fracking? June 2014”
Energy Companies | Erie County (NY) | New York | Pennsylvania | Seneca Resources | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

National Fuel Gas Production Jumps 45% in FY13
October 23, 2013October 23, 2013

National Fuel Gas Co. is headquartered in Buffalo, NY, but it’s the Pennsylvania Marcellus that is causing the company to grow “by leaps and bounds.” National Fuel said its oil and natural gas production jumped 45% during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Via their Seneca Resources subsidiary, they are a major Marcellus player with 780,000 net acres in the PA Marcellus.

Which leads MDN to ask, what the heck are they still doing with their HQ in Buffalo? Why not move to Pittsburgh or someplace else in PA?…
Read More “National Fuel Gas Production Jumps 45% in FY13”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | New York County | Pipelines | Spectra Energy

Spectra NJ-NY Marcellus Gas Pipeline Goes Online Nov. 1
October 22, 2013October 22, 2013

It’s been a long road and a long time in coming, but the good news is that starting Nov. 1, residents of New York City will have another 800 million cubic feet of cheap mostly-Marcellus natural gas flowing into the city through Spectra Energy’s 16 mile, $1.2 billion pipeline from New Jersey to New York. The pipeline will flow enough gas to heat 2 million homes in NYC each year. Outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called more natgas for NYC “vital”. Most New Yorkers are in favor of the new pipeline, but that didn’t deter some from trying to stop the new pipeline.

During construction of the pipeline Spectra had to deal with a lot of nonsense, like protesters who turned into strippers (see NYC Pipeline Protesters Get Naked, Paint Themselves Green), protesters who didn’t even tell themselves they were about to spontaneously break the law (see Nutjob Protester Stops NYC Pipeline Construction for 2 Hours), and groups of protesters like the [In]Sane Energy Project that sued to stop the pipeline (see Judge Tosses Out Lawsuit Against Spectra NYC Pipeline Project). Spectra pressed on through it all and they’re about to turn on the valve Nov. 1. Success at last!…
Read More “Spectra NJ-NY Marcellus Gas Pipeline Goes Online Nov. 1”
Albany County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York

Handful at Albany Anti-Fracking Rally Spout Lies About NE PA
October 21, 2013October 21, 2013

Where two or more are gathered in the name of anti-fracking it’s a “movement” and a “rally” and worthy of media coverage by the reliably anti-fracking Albany Times Union. Such is what happened over the weekend at an Albany park where a handful of people turned up to protest against fracking.

Betty Head, an Albany-area resident and local head volunteer for the fanatically leftist moveon.org, was the main speaker. Ms. Head says she recently visited northeast Pennsylvania (Susquehanna County) and saw “dusty streets” and “vegetation [that]…looked burned and withered” because of fracking. MDN says Ms. Head’s whoppers would make even Mark Twain blush. We’ve visited Susquehanna County too (we live just across the border) and have seen no such thing–in proximity to drilling operations or not. But such is what gets picked up and amplified by lazy liberal media organizations that don’t bother to check the facts…
Read More “Handful at Albany Anti-Fracking Rally Spout Lies About NE PA”
Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Norse Energy | Regulation | Statewide NY

Lights Turned Off, Door Closed – Good Night, Norse Energy
October 17, 2013October 17, 2013

It’s a sad day for New York landowners–for everyone really. Norse Energy has converted from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which means the courts protect you while you regroup, to Chapter 7, which means break it all up and sell off the pieces to the highest bidder. Norse has now literally, as well as figuratively, shut off the lights and closed the door behind them. The remaining eight employees of Norse have just been let go.

For years MDN has been writing about the plight of Norse and their inability to tap shale deposits under 130,000 acres of leased land in New York. The signs have been there for some time that Norse may face extinction if NY does not open up for shale drilling (see Norse Energy 2Q13: Concerned About Remaining ‘a Going Concern’). Thanks Gov. Andy! You sure know how to make NY “business friendly.” Norse announced the change to Chapter 7 last week in a very brief press release. Buffalo Business First reports about the final employees being shown the door…
Read More “Lights Turned Off, Door Closed – Good Night, Norse Energy”