New York

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Anti-Drillers Attempt a Brave Face with NY Appeals Court Decision
August 30, 2013August 30, 2013

MDN was one of the first news/blog sites yesterday to break the news that the New York Court of Appeals has decided to hear the Dryden and Middlefield appeals. This is the best possible news landowners could receive (see BREAKING: NY Court of Appeals will Hear Dryden/Middlefield Case). As promised, below is MDN’s explanation of why we believe the Court of Appeals decision is the single most positive development NY landowners have had in several years (not hyperbole!).

However, before our analysis, some background on yesterday’s decision as given by an objective news source (the Wall Street Journal) and by a not-so-objective news source (the Albany Times Union)…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

RINO NY Sen Greg Ball Comes Out in Favor of Fracking…Sort of
August 30, 2013

Anti-drilling New York State Sen. Greg Ball (a Republican-In-Name-Only from Putnam County), perhaps sensing his next election prospects slipping away, has had a conversion of sorts to becoming a teeny, tiny little bit pro-drilling. In January 2012, Ball introduced a bill that would extend New York’s fracking moratorium until June 1st of this year (Bill to Extend Fracking Moratorium until 2013 Hits NY Senate). Obviously the law didn’t pass and wasn’t even needed. However, it showed the true colors of Greg Ball. Now he’s “seen the light,” supposedly…

Ball “came out” yesterday with an editorial published on his website and picked up by several media outlets. Here is his explanation for his change of heart and new-found, lukewarm, conditional support for fracking in NY:
Read More “RINO NY Sen Greg Ball Comes Out in Favor of Fracking…Sort of”
Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Regulation | Statewide NY

Norse Energy 2Q13: Concerned About Remaining ‘a Going Concern’
August 30, 2013August 30, 2013

MDN told you a few days ago about the sad state of affairs at Norse Energy (see Norse Can’t Dump NY Leases at Auction, Creditors Get Ready to Sue). The company released their second quarter update today (full copy embedded below). The update is based on the assumption the company will remain “a going concern.” They state that if they can’t sell their 130,000 acres of New York leases at a decent price, they’ll have to turn the lights off and walk away. The company is currently under bankruptcy protection and has been ordered to sell their last remaining asset–the leases.

One item from the 2Q13 update that caught our attention is that a group of approximately 60 landowners with a collective 6,000 acres are suing Norse to end their leases. Norse had invoked force majeure on the leases–a legal maneuver that states, roughly, “due to a circumstance beyond our control we’re extending the original lease term.” Of course the unforeseen circumstance is the now 5+ year moratorium on drilling in New York. If Norse starts losing already-signed leases left and right, they’ll have no assets left to sell at auction, so they are vigorously fighting the action by the landowners…
Read More “Norse Energy 2Q13: Concerned About Remaining ‘a Going Concern’”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

BREAKING: NY Court of Appeals will Hear Dryden/Middlefield Case
August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

Important and breaking news as MDN gets published… The New York Court of Appeals (our state’s highest court) has decided to review a lower court ruling on the Dryden and Middlefield cases in which townships banned shale drilling and fracking for everyone in the town. This is fantastic news for New York landowners. We will have more analysis tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s a statement issued by the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York:
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Susquehanna County

What Did NYC Lawmakers Find when Visiting NE PA Frack Sites?
August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

A small group of anti-drilling New York State lawmakers from Westchester County and New York City came to Susquehanna County, PA yesterday for a “tour” of one of the most drilled (and productive) natural gas counties in PA. We’re guessing local anti-drilling celebrity (and potty mouth) Vera Scroggins led the tour, although we don’t know for sure. Regardless of who led it, the aim was to show the devastation fracking hath wrought to this poor, defenseless county. Unfortunately for Vera and other anti-drillers, reality trumps their hallucinations.

MDN was not along for the so-called tour, but we know what the visiting city folks found because we’ve also toured the county and its drilling sites: They found a pretty, rural county where the people are happy and employed, (some of them newly rich, which disgusts the old rich of NYC), and where there is no industrial wasteland. Sometimes trucks clog the roadways–but nothing like the traffic the visiting downstate lawmakers experience every day of their lives…
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Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Is Cuomo Buying Off Health Commissioner to Delay Fracking Report?
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

It’s now apparent to everyone that NY Gov. Andrew “Ditherer” Cuomo is using State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah as his excuse to delay making a decision about whether or not to allow fracking in the state. What’s Shah been up to? Going on junkets–trips where he supposedly confers with people knowledgeable about fracking in other states (and countries). For what? He can’t pick up the phone and call? Doesn’t he have email (or a physical mailing address) so people can send him information? Does he need to be face-to-face so he can look in their eyes to be double-dog sure they’re telling him the truth?

Sure sounds to us like Shah is being bought off with all-expenses paid vacations (averaging about one a month) from Prince Andrew in return for being the whipping boy. Here’s the timeline of Shah’s junkets…
Read More “Is Cuomo Buying Off Health Commissioner to Delay Fracking Report?”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Statewide NY

Norse Can’t Dump NY Leases at Auction, Creditors Get Ready to Sue
August 28, 2013August 30, 2013

Norse Energy, the little energy that ultimately couldn’t (drill, because of Andrew Cuomo), bet big on New York State. It was the wrong bet. Norse holds 130,000 acres of leases in New York and literally bet the company’s future on New York’s willingness to allow fracking. The company lost the bet when they went into bankruptcy last year and finally had to put the only assets they had left on the auction block–130K leased acres–earlier this year (see Bankrupt Norse Energy to Sell NY Leases – Who Will Want Them?). As we stated at the time, who would be willing to purchase the Norse leases with a) Cuomo still not decided on whether drilling can happen in NY, and b) the courts still not decided about whether towns can ban drilling. Our answer: no one will be willing.

Norse has confirmed our logical deduction. The company issued a short statement yesterday stating they received a few low-ball bids for the leases, but the bid amounts are not near enough to satisfy creditors left holding the bag. Those creditors are now looking at filing lawsuits against Norse and its management…
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Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Pro-Drilling Rally Welcomes Pres. Obama in Binghamton Aug 23
August 26, 2013August 26, 2013

Friday was a picture perfect, late summer/early fall day in Binghamton with temperatures around 75 degrees and blue skies. MDN editor Jim Willis had the pleasure of hanging out for a few hours with pro-drilling “salt of the earth” types of folks at Otsiningo Park in Binghamton, NY. About 250 pro-drillers were on hand with signs lined up along a fence bordering Interstate 81 to welcome President Barack Obama as his motorcade/bus whistled past the park on their way to Binghamton University where the President held a town hall meeting to discuss his education plans (i.e., have everyone else pay for your child’s college education via high taxes).

Drilling supporters were there to not only affirm and encourage Obama in his “support” of fracking, but to shame our spineless and indecisive governor, Andy Cuomo, for his lack of leadership on the issue of fracking and shale drilling. Drilling supporters want it known their patience has run out and they see Cuomo for what he is: kowtowing to the extreme left of his own party. It’s repugnant and it’s economically hurting landowners in the Southern Tier of New York State…
Read More “Pro-Drilling Rally Welcomes Pres. Obama in Binghamton Aug 23”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York

Dueling Full Page Frack Ads Greet President Obama in Binghamton
August 23, 2013August 23, 2013

Well looky here, what do we have? In the first section of today’s Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin we find a full page anti-fracking advertisement addressed to President Obama on page A8 (see it below) to try and grab his attention while he’s in town delivering an address today at Binghamton University. The ad is paid for by the odious Food & Water Watch, on behalf of a local batch of loonies called New Yorkers Against Fracking. The ad insults President Obama and claims his administration is covering up “the truth” about fracking. It says that fracking can never be done safely. We’re sure the President appreciates their kind help in enlightening him on the error of his ways.

But don’t despair! On the previous page, A7, is also a full page ad addressed to President Obama. This one is from pro-drillers congratulating him and telling him they agree with his previous statements that shale drilling for natural gas is good for the country (see the ad below). The pro-drilling ad is paid for by ANGA–America’s Natural Gas Association. Once again we see a stark contrast between negative, backward-looking fearmongers who oppose fracking (simply because natural gas is a hated fossil fuel), and positive, forward-looking supporters. It is the difference between unreasonable and reasonable…
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Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation

JLCNY Update on Friday’s Pro-Gas Rally for Obama/Cuomo
August 22, 2013August 22, 2013

Yesterday MDN told you about the “Pro-Gas President Rally” family picnic/fun day planned by the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) for Friday in Otsiningo Park–the day President Obama visits Binghamton, NY (see JLCNY Picnic Celebration for Obama’s Visit to Binghamton).

MDN received the following important update about that event:
Read More “JLCNY Update on Friday’s Pro-Gas Rally for Obama/Cuomo”
Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation

JLCNY Picnic Celebration for Obama’s Visit to Binghamton
August 21, 2013August 20, 2013

What a difference between planned rallies from the anti- and pro-drilling camps that will assemble this Friday, August 23, when President Obama visits Binghamton. Yesterday MDN told you about plans for the nutter squad (see NY Anti-Drillers Plan “Red Letter Day” for Obama Binghamton Visit). Compare that announcement, which is almost painful to read so laced with negativity and vitriol, with the announcement below from the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY), which is respectful, hopeful and positive.

The JLCNY will not protest and picket Obama when he visits Binghamton. Instead, they’re heading to a local park for a day-long picnic. Of course bring your big signs so Obama sees it when he passes by–but the JLCNY event is about celebration, even though this group of people has far more to be negative and angry about. The two announcements illustrate the stark contrast between the kinds of people that make up each group. It’s like night and day…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Otsego County

Anti-Drillers Want NY Hospital to Burn Oil to Avoid More Fracking
August 21, 2013August 20, 2013

Natural gas burns cleaner than either coal or oil–this is an inarguable fact. Natural gas is also, thanks to shale fracking, now cheaper than either oil and in most cases coal. And yet, anti-fracking activists don’t want a hospital in Oneonta, NY to convert to using natural gas (cleaner, cheaper) because…it may one day lead to more fracking. Huh? Don’t convert, even though it’s better for the air and even though it will cost less than burning oil (as they do now). Yep. That’s the twisted philosophy rampant among New York anti-drillers. It makes no sense, so don’t try and figure it out or you may go crazy too…
Read More “Anti-Drillers Want NY Hospital to Burn Oil to Avoid More Fracking”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York

NY Anti-Drillers Plan “Red Letter Day” for Obama Binghamton Visit
August 20, 2013August 20, 2013

Walter Hang, proprietor of a company called Toxics Targeting, and the loony brigade from New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD) will be out in force at President Obama’s appearance this Friday at Binghamton University. MDN has attended various anti-drilling meetings in the past (as a reporter, not a supporter) and has ended up on email lists including Mr. Hang’s.

Hang sent the following email alert to all the faithful encouraging them to turn out on Friday, with the subject line “URGENT ALERT! URGENT ALERT! OBAMA AT BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY FRIDAY – AUGUST 23rd”:
Read More “NY Anti-Drillers Plan “Red Letter Day” for Obama Binghamton Visit”
Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Onondaga County | Regulation

Cowardly Cuomo Will Not Visit Syracuse/Binghamton with Obama
August 20, 2013August 20, 2013

Gov. Andrew “Spineless” Cuomo–who laughably thinks he has a shot at one day being president–will not join President B.H. Obama when Obama visits the “hotbed” of fracking controversy in Cuomo’s own state–Syracuse and Binghamton, NY. Why won’t Cuomo be on the platform with his political idol? Fear of facing angry landowners and supporters of shale drilling. Cuomo knows he is loathed in shale country in upstate NY and doesn’t want to answer tough questions about fracking or risk being seen for what he is: indecisive and weak.

Cuomo has ended his own future political ambitions over the fracking issue and everyone knows it–except, apparently, him…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | New York | Tompkins County

If NY Electric Plant Can’t Convert to NatGas, School Gets Screwed
August 16, 2013August 16, 2013

As MDN has previously reported, anti-drillers in Tompkins County, NY are making a serious attempt to prevent an electrical generating plant near Ithaca, NY from converting from coal to clean-burning natural gas (see NY Eco Group Protest to Stop Plant Converting from Coal to NatGas). If the utility company is not granted permission to convert, they’ll shut the plant down, which is exactly what the anti-drillers want.

Problem is, if that plant shuts down, it will remove one of the largest sources of tax revenue for the local Lansing school district. But the antis, blinded by their twisted “renewables-only” energy philosophy, don’t care…
Read More “If NY Electric Plant Can’t Convert to NatGas, School Gets Screwed”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Gov. Cuomo Continues Trend of Excuses on Fracking Issue
August 13, 2013August 13, 2013

Is New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is an economic ignoramus? His own statements seem to indicate he’s clueless when it comes to the benefits of shale drilling and how it would impact the upstate economy.

Yesterday, Gov. Spineless offered yet more excuses for his waffling on the issue of fracking:
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