New York

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…
Read More “Dueling Full Page Frack Ads Greet President Obama in Binghamton”
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…
Read More “JLCNY Picnic Celebration for Obama’s Visit to Binghamton”
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…
Read More “Cowardly Cuomo Will Not Visit Syracuse/Binghamton with Obama”
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:
Read More “Gov. Cuomo Continues Trend of Excuses on Fracking Issue”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

MDN Calls for the Criminalization of the NY Green Party
August 12, 2013August 12, 2013

Does that headline sound a bit unhinged? Over the top? Sorta stupid? It’s no more stupid than the New York Green Party calling (as it has done yet again) for the “complete criminalization” of fracking in the Empire State. We thought we would illustrate absurdity with absurdity and call for criminalizing the stupidity that’s rampant in the Green Party. The unhinged and wacko Greens want to turn a safe, legitimate and needed industrial activity–fracking–into a criminal act. They point out that, Hey man, even the pot smokers in Woodstock, NY have voted to criminalize fracking (our words).

We propose that the Greens’ stupidity is itself a criminal act. Here’s the latest lunacy from the anti-drilling left in the People’s Republic of New York, otherwise known as the Green Party:
Read More “MDN Calls for the Criminalization of the NY Green Party”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Broome County | Chemung County | Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY | Steuben County | Tioga County (NY)

Cuomo & DiNapoli: Asleep at Sales Tax Switch in NY Southern Tier
August 12, 2013August 12, 2013

MDN has long chronicled the sad situation for landowners in New York State with a moratorium that is, as of today, 5 years and 20 days old. It has had catastrophic economic consequences for New York, especially for those who live in the Southern Tier of the state–that area along the mid-state “southern” border with Pennsylvania (Broome, Tioga, Chemung, Steuben counties). Gov. Andrew Cuomo is spineless on the fracking issue–that much is clear. He won’t stand up to the shrill and unreasonable voices in his own party. No one will take him seriously on the national stage. Cuomo’s rising star has become a shooting star–straight down.

Thomas DiNapoli, NY State Comptroller, is clearly an avowed anti-driller. We’ve brought you a number of stories that illustrate his disdain for drilling (see MDN stories about DiNapoli here). We find it particularly offensive and hypocritical (although not surprising) that DiNapoli has just issued a report that shows sales tax revenue is up in most of the state’s counties, but down in Southern Tier counties–down a lot. DiNapoli bemoans the fact that the Southern Tier continues to take it in the neck–yet he makes no mention of how shale drilling could instantly reverse the economic misery of Southern Tier residents. Typical politician–identify the problem but offer no solutions…
Read More “Cuomo & DiNapoli: Asleep at Sales Tax Switch in NY Southern Tier”
Broome County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY | Tioga County (NY)

Chesapeake Energy Throws in the Towel on NY Shale Drilling
August 7, 2013August 7, 2013

A good news/bad news story. The good news is that Chesapeake Energy is giving up the legal fight with landowners in New York to extend their leases beyond the original lease term. MDN has long chronicled the fight on the part of landowners to stop Chesapeake from claiming force majeure to extend leases signed for (in some cases) just a few dollars per acre–leases signed long before horizontal drilling and fracking were contemplated (see More on the NY Force Majeure Ruling Against Chesapeake). After two years of legal wrangling, Chesapeake is throwing in the towel. Landowners will now be able to sign with another company, if drilling ever comes to NY.

The bad news is, Chesapeake is throwing in the towel–as in they are giving up on NY–tired of the ongoing five-year moratorium in shale drilling. Wake up Cuomo! Your actions have caused this! You are causing direct economic harm to your residents every day the moratorium stays in place…
Read More “Chesapeake Energy Throws in the Towel on NY Shale Drilling”
Energy Companies | New York | Norse Energy | Statewide NY

Bankrupt Norse Energy to Sell NY Leases – Who Will Want Them?
July 30, 2013July 30, 2013

The “little energy company that could” has become the “little energy company sunk by Andrew Cuomo.” A pair of press releases from Norse Energy Corp. yesterday tell the sad story. Norse, with 130,000 leased acres in New York State (most of it in the Marcellus & Utica Shale) had been hanging on by a thread, waiting for shale drilling to begin. The company filed for bankruptcy last December, clinging to the promise that Cuomo and the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation were about to release new fracking rules (see Norse Energy Hurt by NY Fracking Delay Files for Bankruptcy). If shale drilling had been allowed even starting this spring, there’s a chance Norse could have pulled out of bankruptcy and continued. Alas, the new fracking rules have still not been released, and now Norse will be forced to sell off the only assets it has left: its leases…
Read More “Bankrupt Norse Energy to Sell NY Leases – Who Will Want Them?”
Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Speakers at JLCNY 5-Year Moratorium Event Take Aim at Gov Cuomo
July 24, 2013July 24, 2013

Yesterday marked the very sad and tragic five-year anniversary of no shale drilling in New York State. The moratorium, first instituted by then-Gov. David Paterson in 2008, has increasingly frustrated the 77,000 members of the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY). The JLCNY and New York elected representatives made their collective displeasure with the ongoing moratorium known at a rally yesterday in Binghamton, NY. Addressing a packed room of some 150 drilling supporters, the JLCNY’s attorney Scott Kurkoski gave a stirring speech, followed by a number of elected state and local officials. Each of them took direct aim at Gov. Andrew Cuomo, telling him “it’s been long enough” and “it’s time to move forward.” Watch a video of the speeches below (22 minutes long), courtesy WIVT/WBGH News Channel 34.

The JLCNY also released the following statement yesterday:
Read More “Speakers at JLCNY 5-Year Moratorium Event Take Aim at Gov Cuomo”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Public Opinion | Statewide NY

The One Fracking Poll Gov Cuomo *Should* Be Worried About
July 24, 2013July 24, 2013

MDN subscriber and friend Ken Kamlet, an attorney with one of Binghamton’s premier law firms–Hinman, Howard & Kattell (HHK), recently wrote an article for the HHK legal blog that takes a close look at public polling in New York State on the issue of shale drilling and fracking. It’s a marvelous article, both in depth and breadth, providing superb insights into what New Yorkers think about the drilling issue (we recommend you read the whole article).

In Ken’s conclusion, he hits on the one public poll that should matter the most to NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo. And no, it’s not how many New Yorkers are for or against fracking and shale drilling. The poll that Cuomo should pay attention to is the one that shows a convincing majority of New Yorkers on both sides of the drilling issue believe Cuomo is “dragging his feet” on the drilling issue. Rather than being perceived as careful and deliberative on the drilling issue, he is instead perceived as weak and ineffective, lacking leadership–not good qualities for someone who seeks higher office…
Read More “The One Fracking Poll Gov Cuomo *Should* Be Worried About”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Ulster County

Marbletown, NY Frack Ban Passes – 22 Page Manifesto
July 24, 2013July 24, 2013

Sometimes town leaders in New York State who vote to ban hydraulic fracturing are dullards–they don’t bother to research and understand the legal issues. It makes no difference to them that they’re trampling on the Constitutional property rights of their landowning constituents–the very people they’re sworn to protect (but don’t).

Other times, town leaders in New York who vote to ban drilling–like those in Marbletown, NY (Ulster County, Middle Hudson Valley area)–are truly, stupendously ~~stupid~~ misguided. What takes most towns a paragraph or two to do, “Don’t drill and frack anywhere in the town,” has taken the brainiacs in Marbletown 22 pages of new regulations to accomplish in their recently enacted fracking ban. And the town supervisor brags about it!…
Read More “Marbletown, NY Frack Ban Passes – 22 Page Manifesto”
Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Somber Anniversary: Today NY Fracking Moratorium Turns 5 Yrs-Old
July 23, 2013July 23, 2013

Time to fly the flags at half staff. Why? It seems that freedom and liberty in New York State have died. Tyranny has slowly crept in and has now taken up residence in the Empire State. For five long years, landowners in New York have been denied their Constitutional property rights to allow shale drilling on and under their land, and frankly, there’s no end in sight to this travesty of justice. Oh, we New Yorkers have not given up! As Winston Churchill once famously said, NEVER!

But honestly, it’s hard to keep your chin up month after month and year after year, especially when Democrats control so much of the state and just don’t give a darn about individual freedom or the Constitution. It’s especially disheartening when there’s rampant ignorance on the part of many in the general public who only read headlines and don’t bother to try and understand the sometimes complicated drilling issue. As we pointed out yesterday, the drilling issue in New York has devolved into celebrity emotion vs. science (see NY Fracking Debate is Celebrity Emotion vs Scientific Facts).

To mark today’s somber anniversary, the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York will hold a “Five-Year Anniversary Event” at the Holiday Inn Arena in downtown Binghamton…
Read More “Somber Anniversary: Today NY Fracking Moratorium Turns 5 Yrs-Old”