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SRBC Advises Water Permit Holders to Consider Alternative Sources

At the end of May, MDN told you about water withdrawal restrictions from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) affecting 42 Pennsylvania oil and gas operators due to ongoing drought conditions (see SRBC Water Withdrawal Restrictions Hit 42 PA Oil & Gas Operators). Earlier this week, the SRBC notified all water users in the basin that have withdrawal permits, including shale drillers, they should review those permits, and if there are restrictions for withdrawals during low streamflow conditions, they need to make alternative plans…now.
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Energy Discrimination to Become Law in New York with Geothermal Bill

We spotted a press release from an energy company that works in New York State called Dandelion Energy. (Interesting to name your company after a weed.) Dandelion is delighted with the leftists who rule in NY and are poised to enact a new law that allows drilling deep wells for geothermal systems (that Dandelion sells), but continues to prohibit drilling virtually the same kind of wells for natural gas. Because, you know, gas is an evil fossil fuel.
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Citizens Against Gov’t Waste Awards NY Gov “Porker of the Month”

Yesterday, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), an independent, nonpartisan group, named New York Governor Kathy Hochul (Democrat) its May 2023 “Porker of the Month” for signing a budget that bans gas stoves and furnaces in new residential buildings. Hochul signed a $229 billion behemoth budget bill that bans new construction from connecting to natural gas pipelines (outlawing new gas stoves and furnaces), as well as forces the shutdown of seven gas-fired peaker power plants (see NY State has Fallen – Gas Stoves & Peaker Plants Banned in Budget). CAGW says the Hocul budget “is devastating for taxpayers, businesses, and consumers”–especially the gas ban.
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NY’s Statewide Ban on NatGas in New Buildings Heading to Court

Last week MDN brought you the sad news that New York State has fallen and is now under a Communist dictatorship, with the freedom to choose an energy source now gone (see NY State has Fallen – Gas Stoves & Peaker Plants Banned in Budget). Gov. Hochul and the Democrat legislature unilaterally voted to ban new homes and businesses from connecting to natural gas lines–even though such a ban was ruled to be unconstitutional in California just a few weeks ago (see Fed Appeals Court Overturns Berkeley, CA “First in Nation” Gas Ban). Can the California ruling be used to overturn the NY ban?
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Communist NY Forcing Schools, Hospitals to 100% Renewables by 2035

Two days ago, we brought you the very sad news that New York State has fallen and is now under a Communist dictatorship (see NY State has Fallen – Gas Stoves & Peaker Plants Banned in Budget). Our freedom to choose which energy source we want to use is gone. Little did we know of another measure passed as part of the state budget that requires municipally-owned properties, including many hospitals and schools, as well as public housing and public transit, forcing them to switch to unreliable renewable energy by 2035.
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NY State has Fallen – Gas Stoves & Peaker Plants Banned in Budget

We’re not even sure how to process this, or where to begin. We previously warned MDN readers that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, an extremist, is trying to ban natural gas hookups in every single new home and business across the “Empire” State (see NY Gov. Hochul Loses Her Mind – Wants to Ban Gas in New Buildings). She even wants to ban gas in existing homes, but that’s too much even for NY’s Democrats to stomach (see New York Legislators Block Hochul NatGas Ban for Existing Homes). As part of the 2023-2024 budget deal, Hochul got her way. Beginning in 2025, if you build a new home (or business) in New York State, you will not be allowed to connect it to an existing natural gas pipeline system. You will be banned from installing a gas (or propane) stove in the house. We now live in a Communist, non-free state. New York has fallen.
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Republicans Warn NY Gov & Democrat Legislature to Forget NatGas Ban

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a true extremist, is trying to ban natural gas hookups in every single new home and business across the “Empire” State (see NY Gov. Hochul Loses Her Mind – Wants to Ban Gas in New Buildings). She even wants to ban gas in existing homes, but that’s too much even for NY’s Democrats to stomach (see New York Legislators Block Hochul NatGas Ban for Existing Homes). New York City already has a ban on hooking up new homes and businesses to natural gas (see New York City Commits Energy Suicide – Mass Exodus Begins). As part of this year’s (very late) annual budget, Hochul and the Democrat legislature hope to pass a statewide ban on new gas hookups beginning in 2025 (or 2026).
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NY Grid Operator Warns NYC Heading for Blackouts in 2025

New York State’s chickens are finally coming home to roost. The extreme leftist politicians who run the state have assaulted the fossil energy industry for half a dozen years, maybe longer. The assault on fossil energy began under Andrew Cuomo and has continued under his successor, Kathy Hochul. Their actions are leading to electricity blackouts in New York City. Last Friday, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) released its quarterly assessment of the reliability of the bulk electric system. While the state as a whole is not (yet) in trouble, NYISO says beginning in 2025, NYC “could become deficient” in electric power. Translation: The Big (Rotten) Apple is heading for blackouts.
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Experts Say NatGas Use in NY State Indispensable for Years to Come

New York politicians are so consumed with hatred of fossil fuels they are forcing residents to pay an average of $28,000 to convert their homes away from heating and cooking with natural gas, propane, and fuel oil (see NYers Will Pay Average $28K to Retrofit Homes for All-Electric). We’ve been raising the alarm, warning New Yorkers since 2019, when the state passed a draconian “energy” law, that residents will one day have to stop using fossil energy to heat and cook (see New York Pulls the Trigger, Commits Energy Suicide with New Law). That day arrived last December when a state commission approved plans to phase out fossil fuel-burning furnaces beginning as soon as 2025 as part of NY’s draconian (dystopian) program to address mythical “climate change” (see NY Bans Oil, NatGas, Propane Furnaces Beginning 2025 – Move Now!). People from the state’s energy industry, including utility companies, admitted there is no way in Hades the state can implement these draconian changes any time soon. At the NY Energy Summit, speaker after speaker made the case that natural gas “will likely remain indispensable” in the state “for years to come.”
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Weak NY Governor Caves to Climate Crazies re Methane Acctg

Gov. Kathy Hochul, cooking in a gas stove

Yesterday MDN told you about pressure from the lunatic left being brought on the liberal governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, to keep in place a 2019 climate law requiring the so-called effects of burning methane be calculated as having an impact across a 20-year timeframe rather than the 100-year timeframe used by most other states, including California (see Antis Oppose New York Changing Methane Accounting Timeline). Hochul knows the shorter timeframe is dramatically increasing the cost of energy in the state and driving people out of the state. She wanted to adopt the longer timeframe. Yet, she caved to the uber-radicals–because she’s so weak and ineffective as governor.
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Antis Oppose New York Changing Methane Accounting Timeline

This is another in our series of what it’s like living “Behind Enemy Lines.” MDN editor Jim Willis lives in Upstate New York (Binghamton area). Our freedoms in NY are being stripped away at an alarming rate. The radical left is in full control of the state, as is illustrated by a recent debate between Gov. Kathy Hochul (a far-left radical) and others in the Democrat Party even further to the left of Hochul, if such a thing is possible. The people left of Hochul are resisting a reasonable compromise in the current budget that would change the current timeline for methane accounting from 20 years to 100 years.
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NY Republican Leader Obliterates Hochul’s Idiotic Gas Stove Ban

As we reported yesterday, New York legislators are pushing back against a truly crazy plan by NY Gov. Kathy Hochul to ban natural gas (and fuel oil) in all homes and businesses across the Empire State (see New York Legislators Block Hochul NatGas Ban for Existing Homes). Although Hochul wants a total ban, she won’t get it. She may, however, get a ban on new homes and businesses from connecting to natgas lines beginning in 2025. Even that plan is certifiably crazy.
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New York Legislators Block Hochul NatGas Ban for Existing Homes

We live and work in Upstate New York State (sad to say). It is our birthplace, and our families live here. However, New York has fallen. We are overwhelmed with Democrat socialists who don’t care about traditional American values like freedom. The best illustration of this is our newly-elected Governor, Kathy Hochul. She not only wants to ban natural gas hookups for new homes and businesses across the entire state, she wants to force all EXISTING homes and businesses to give up using natural gas (and fuel oil, and coal, and wood) as well. It’s certifiably insane. Yet that’s how the Democrat socialist mind works. Fortunately, there are at least a few Dems left willing to push back on some of this insanity. Where do plans stand to ban natgas in the Empire State?
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NY Lawmakers Aim to Make Hochul’s Anti-Fossil Fuel Plan Worse

The nightmare we can’t wake up from, called New York State, keeps getting darker and worse. In January, Hochul proposed banning the sale of all new natural gas appliances across the state, along with an outright ban on hooking up new homes and businesses to gas, by 2030 (see NY Gov. Hochul Loses Her Mind – Wants to Ban Gas in New Buildings). She also wants to cap so-called greenhouse gas output and require companies to buy “allowances” (i.e., indulgences) for their carbon emissions sins. This is hard to believe, but Democrat legislators are adding new requirements of their own, making it even harder for companies to meet emissions standards, stay under the caps, and/or pay for allowances. The legislature’s proposed changes will drive even more companies out of the state.
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Research Claims Old Folks Near PA Marcellus Have More Heart Attacks

Could air pollution related to drilling shale wells affect those who live nearby? In particular, does shale drilling negatively affect the health of older folks (over age 65)? How would we know if it is affecting their health? Researchers set out to answer that question by analyzing Medicare data for older folks who live near Marcellus drilling in Pennsylvania, comparing the data with older folks who live in nearby New York, where there is no Marcellus drilling. The researchers conclude that living near shale drilling increases the likelihood of old folks having a heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular issues.
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Majority of New Yorkers Oppose Gov. Hochul’s NatGas Suicide Plan

With liberal leftist Democrats like NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, popular opinion only matters during an election year, when getting elected (or reelected). After that, Dems like Hochul govern any darned well way they please. It doesn’t matter if a majority of the state’s residents oppose her cockamamie, screwed-up plans to commit energy suicide by banning natural gas across the entire state. She’s moving forward full-speed ahead with her energy suicide plan anyway.
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