Sanford Rescinds No Frackspeak at Meetings, Lawsuit Dropped
MDN previously told you the story of Sanford (Broome County), NY town officials who had grown tired of the ceaseless, endless droning of anti-drilling wackos at every single town meeting. In Sept. 2012, Sanford town officials voted to forbid frackspeak (pro or anti) at future town meetings so they could actually get town business done instead. Big mistake—never deny a wacko time to vent. Sanford’s action to “limit free speech” precipitated a lawsuit by the National Resources Defense Council and Catskill Citizens for (So-Called) Safe Energy (see NRDC & CCSE Sue Sanford, NY over No-Frackspeak Resolution).
Update: In light of the deep-pockets lawsuit by these well-funded (with out-of-state money) organizations, Sanford has reversed course and rescinded its ban on frackspeak. The lawsuit has now been dropped by NRDC and CCSE. Cue music to “Send in the clowns“…
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Buffalo-area State Senator Mark Grisanti, a Republican, recently re-introduced several bills he previously introduced last year about this time, dealing with hydraulic fracturing in New York State. MDN received a tip from a Norse Energy investor forum that Grisanti had introduced a bill that creates a high volume hydraulic fracturing waste tracking system at the Dept. of Environmental Conservation. True, he did indeed introduce that bill (again) and the bill has been sent on to the Senate Environmental Conservation committee. Norse investors, among others, are attempting to read any tea leaves they can find for news that New York is about to allow horizontal fracking. Is this such a sign?…
Two years ago in March 2011, MDN told you about New York State’s official geologist, Dr. Langhorne “Taury” Smith, who had the temerity to tell the Albany Times Union that fracking is perfectly safe. He also called shale a "huge gift," and said the issue of fracking is being used by enviro-left groups as a fundraiser (see