New York

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Albany Protesters Try to Convince Cuomo to Ban Fracking
August 28, 2012August 28, 2012

$anti-fracker$ Depending on which news source you read, yesterday’s anti-fracking protest rally and march in Albany, NY drew “hundreds” of protesters, “more than 1,000” or “about 1,200.” Any way you slice it, there were a lot of loud-mouthed people in Albany yesterday, trying to catch the attention of one person: Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

A few “famous people” were there as well, which is what caught the attention of the media. People like actress Debra Winger (who lives in Sullivan County, NY) and author Bill McKibben (writes about climate change).

Josh Fox of Gasland fame was there too, although he doesn’t even rate a mention in the Albany Times Union story, and just a brief mention in the Gannett story. Guess Josh’s 15 minutes of fame is now about over.

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Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York

The Line that Divides NY’s Southern Tier: Both Land & People
August 28, 2012August 28, 2012

An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer written by a staff writer who also maintains their “green blog” (i.e., someone who is opposed to shale gas drilling) has penned a fair representation of how the drilling and fracking issue has divided communities, and even families, in New York’s Southern Tier.

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Education | Erie County (NY) | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research

83 University at Buffalo Profs Target Shale Institute
August 28, 2012August 28, 2012

The witch hunt at the University at Buffalo (UB) continues. This time 83 UB faculty members have taken up their pitchforks and torches to aid in the hunt against the university’s new Shale Resources and Society Institute.

Anti-drilling Bloomberg news is only too happy to lend a megaphone to the effort:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

One More Time: When Will NY Release New Fracking Regs?
August 27, 2012August 27, 2012

The one question MDN editor Jim Willis gets asked most often is, “When will New York release rules to allow fracking?” We’ve addressed this question before and no doubt will again. But this time, we thought we would let someone else address it for a change. Here’s a roundup of who’s said what on the topic of “when NY” as offered by Steve Israel in the Middletown Times Herald-Record:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg Supports Fracking
August 24, 2012August 24, 2012

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, along with the “father” of hydraulic fracturing, George Mitchell, jointly published an opinion piece in yesterday’s Washington Post that supports fracking. Or rather offers qualified support, provided fracking is done they way they want it done.

Bloomberg and Mitchell offer four reasons why fracking is good, and then say their individual foundations will work together to “encourage better state regulation of fracking around five key principles.” Here are those five principles:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County (NY) | New York | Regulation

Town of Perinton, NY to Vote on Fracking Ban in September
August 24, 2012August 24, 2012

Looks like the Town of Perinton in Monroe County, NY (near Rochester) is lined up to ban fracking. The town board passed a draft ordinance in July (three ordinances in fact). The proposed ordinances are currently under review and a final vote will be taken in late September.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Former Energy Sec. Richardson Supports Cuomo Fracking Plan
August 23, 2012August 23, 2012

It seems Democrats themselves have grown tired of anti-fracking shenanigans by their own people at public gatherings. Former Sec. of Energy (and former Governor of New Mexico) Bill Richardson was in New York City yesterday speaking on renewable energy at an event hosted by the Democrat party and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. A couple of anti-frackers who had “slipped in” stood up to protest, unfurling an anti-fracking banner and making claims that fracking would poison water supplies.

Here’s what happened:

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Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York

Anti-Fracking Doctor Unsuccessful at Vestal, NY Board Meeting
August 23, 2012August 23, 2012

Several doctors from the Broome County Medical Society (BCMS) attended a Vestal (Broome County, NY) Town Board meeting on Monday to ask them to vote for a delay in hydraulic fracturing until a so-called independent health study can be completed. One of those doctors was Niru Anne, a cancer doctor at Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton and vice president of BCMS.

For a smart person, Dr. Anne is extremely uninformed when it comes to fracking:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NY Anti-Drillers Threaten Civil Disobedience over Fracking
August 22, 2012August 22, 2012

If anti-drillers in New York don’t get their way with Gov. Cuomo (i.e., a total ban on fracking), they’re threatening to engage in so-called “nonviolent” civil disobedience.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Niagara County | Regulation

Wilson, NY Votes to Ban Fracking
August 22, 2012August 22, 2012

The village board of Wilson (Niagara County), NY has voted to ban hydraulic fracturing. In a statement, one anti-drilling Wilson board member said he wants fracking to be banned everywhere, not just in New York. Gotta love those freedom-loving, “I know better than you do how to run your life” kinds of people, dontchya?

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Public Opinion | Statewide NY

New York State Ad Wars Heat Up Over Fracking
August 22, 2012August 22, 2012

As we get ever closer to the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) release of new rules to allow fracking—a decision expected either by or shortly after Labor Day—both sides of the debate are turning up the heat by taking to the airwaves and in print with advertisements.

For some time now, pro-drilling groups led by the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) have run radio and print ads (see below). The other side is now entering the fray with their own ads.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County (NY) | New York | Regulation

Town of Rochester, NY will Vote on Frack Ban August 30th
August 21, 2012August 21, 2012

It looks like the Town of Rochester, NY (in addition to the City of Rochester) is about to turn down potential jobs and investment in their economically depressed community by spitting in the face of the shale drilling industry. That is, they plan to ban drilling at a town board meeting on August 30.

Not only will the measure they plan to vote on completely ban fracking, it will also ban “transferring, storing, processing and disposing of materials related to horizontal hydraulic fracturing.” They won’t even allow new buildings to be built related to fracking—so if you’re a law firm that represents a driller and want to build a new office, forget it.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Public Opinion | Statewide NY

Poll: New Yorkers Remain Split on Fracking, Some Surprises
August 21, 2012August 21, 2012

Each month the Siena College Research Institute conducts a statewide poll in New York to gage opinions on various political issues and politicians. For several years running they have polled on the question of whether or not New Yorkers support shale gas drilling and fracking. The unsurprising results again for this month are that statewide, New Yorkers are evenly split for and against fracking (see the results embedded below).

However, when you dig into the numbers, a surprising fact emerges about the geography people live in who favor drilling versus the geography of those who don’t.

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Broome County | DTE Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County

DTE Moves Forward with Bluestone Gathering Pipeline in NE PA
August 20, 2012August 20, 2012

In July of 2011 DTE Energy announced they would file to build a 37-mile natural gas gathering pipeline through the Town of Sanford (Broome County, NY) as well as the towns of New Milford, Harford, Thompson, Jackson, Lenox and Harmony in Susquehanna County, PA. Dubbed the Bluestone Pipeline, the new gathering pipeline will hook to Marcellus gas wells along its route and connect to both the Millennium and the Tennessee interstate pipelines. (A data sheet issued in July 2011 showing the route of the pipeline is embedded below.)

DTE, under their subsidiary Bluestone Gas Corporation, filed a proposal on August 9 to move forward with building the pipeline. The New York State Public Service Commission is now accepting public comment on the proposed pipeline and its route until August 31. From the Public Service Commission press release:

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Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation

Broome County, NY Township to Hold Hearing on Drilling Ban
August 17, 2012August 17, 2012

In a completely unexpected move, the Town of Chenango (Broome County, NY) has scheduled a public hearing on October 1st to consider a proposed one-year moratorium on natural gas drilling. That is, a couple of town board members in Chenango may ruin the ability for all landowners in the the town to allow drilling on or under their land for the foreseeable future. This is bad news for landowners in Chenango (not far from where MDN is written).

Broome County is likely one of the places where initial permits to drill will be issued, but DEC Commissioner Joe Martens and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have both said communities that don’t want drilling won’t get it. A vote to ban it—even temporarily—is a loud and clear message to the DEC to stay away.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Anti-Driller Cuckoo Birds on Full Display
August 15, 2012August 15, 2012

There’s no nice way of saying this, so I won’t. The closer we get to the release of new rules that will allow the 60-year old technology of hydraulic fracturing to be used in New York, more and more nut jobs will come out of the New York woodwork.

The latest case in point comes from Paul Bray, columnist for the Albany Times Union:

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