Statewide NY

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

Who Knew? “Massive” Marcellus is Drilled in “Two Dozen States”
September 4, 2014September 4, 2014

Wow, the Marcellus must have grown quite a bit overnight when no one was looking. According to a reporter at Newsday (Long Island newspaper, sixth largest regional newspaper in the country), “More than two dozen states permit drilling in the massive Marcellus Shale deposit.” Last time we checked there are three states drilling in the Marcellus: Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. Most of it happens in two states: PA and WV. When reporters are that sloppy, it makes you wonder if anything else in the article is actually true. In this case, it’s an article about the differences of opinion by gubernatorial candidates in NY on whether or not to allow fracking in the Empire State…
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Economic Impact | Education | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

Penn State to Study Effects of “Mailbox Money” in PA Marcellus
September 3, 2014September 3, 2014

Have you ever heard the phrase “mailbox money” used to describe royalty checks (and singing bonuses) landowners receive for Marcellus Shale wells? We hadn’t either–but apparently that’s the phrase that’s used, somewhat pejoratively, to describe this economic miracle. We wonder how money flowing to snotty rich people who inherited their wealth is described–maybe “lazy money” or “daddy’s money” or “trust fund money”? But we digress. Researchers at Penn State University have received a $150,000 grant (“grant money”) to research whether or not Marcellus money going to previously poor, dumb farmers in PA (our interpretation) makes a difference to the health and well being for the kids in those households, vs. the poor, dumb farmer kids across the border in NY who are kept in poverty by the actions of NY’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, who refuses to allow Marcellus drilling. The study will evaluate whether or not Marcellus money affects a child’s well-being–ranging from behavior, psychological and health factors to school success…
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Industrywide Issues | New York | Public Opinion | Statewide NY

Quinnipiac Poll Finds New Yorkers Still About Split on Fracking
August 25, 2014August 25, 2014

A couple of different polling agencies regularly ask New Yorkers their opinion about fracking in the Empire State. It’s always been roughly 50/50 for and against. Downstate, near New York City, it tends to be slightly higher against, and Upstate, in places like Broome County (where MDN is written) it tends to be slightly higher in favor of fracking. Recently one of two main polling agencies, Siena College, tried a new twist, which utterly bombed. They decided to poll in those places most likely to see drilling–except they included places that won’t see drilling and ignored two of the largest counties that would see drilling (see Siena Poll of Upstate NYers on Fracking Fatally Flawed). Garbage in, garbage out. Quinnipiac University is the other major pollster for New York. They’ve decided to stick with their routine questions and poll a sampling of all New Yorkers. And what does it show?…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Cornell Prof Asks Gov. Cuomo to Lift Drilling Ban, Uses Real Science
August 14, 2014August 14, 2014

Not all of the professors who work at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) are out there ranging like Robert Howarth and Tony Ingraffea, who have made a cottage industry for themselves (and collected big bucks from the Park Foundation) bashing away at shale drilling. Their most infamous anti-drilling work claims burning coal is better for the environment than burning natural gas (see New Cornell University Study Says Shale Gas Extraction Worse for Global Warming Than Coal). And yet they still have jobs at Cornell. Gotta love tenure. Fortunately there’s a counterbalance at Cornell. A group of Cornell professors, including Dr. Larry Cathles, previously pointed out the gaping holes in Howarth & Ingraffea’s “research” (see New Cornell Study Says Coal is Not Cleaner than Natural Gas). Dr. Cathles recently sent an outstanding letter to NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo urging him to lift the shale drilling moratorium, giving Cuomo a Cliff Notes version of the real science that proves natural gas benefits the environment, rather than the reverse…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin Pair of Drive-by Anti-Drilling Articles
August 11, 2014August 11, 2014

Yet another pair of drive-by articles on shale drilling appeared in the Sunday edition of the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin. First, a front page story built on a false premise–that the recent sham report by the politically ambitious (and anti-drilling) Auditor General of Pennsylvania issued three weeks ago contains “lessons to be learned” for New York. Pennsylvania’s anti-drilling Democrat Auditor General Eugene DePasquale took office promising to conduct an anal exam of the Dept. of Environmental Protection. Apparently he couldn’t find good dirt on the agency from 2012 onward, so he went back in time using the wayback machine to dig up old news and try to construct a report that says the PA DEP has big problems (see Anti-Drilling PA Auditor General Criticizes DEP in “Report”). That sham report, written by a man who’s seeking to make a name for himself so he can run for governor of PA in the future (and someone who heavily promoted wind farms, the energy source that “lost” to shale gas), is used as the basis for an article by a Gannett reporter to further the meme that shale drilling in NY is too risky and should not happen…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Public Opinion | Statewide NY

Siena Poll of Upstate NYers on Fracking Fatally Flawed
August 1, 2014August 1, 2014

Sure looks to MDN like the so-called unbiased, independent pollsters at Siena College have pulled a fast one. They’ve either unintentionally, or perhaps intentionally, cherry-picked polling results in order to report in their latest poll that “51 percent of voters int the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes oppose hydrofracking, compared to 39 percent in support.” Here’s why the poll, and therefore it’s results, are fatally flawed and meaningless…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Towns that Ban Fracking Could be Bankrupted by Takings Lawsuits
July 31, 2014July 31, 2014

New York townships that recently won the right to outright ban shale drilling with a 3-2 majority vote by a town board may want to rethink their ill-advised votes. Due to a tip from a sharp MDN reader, we bring you a press release from the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) about recent court decisions in Colorado. Similar to the New York case, some municipalities in CO have attempted outright bans of fracking–and those cases, contrary to what happened in NY–are being lost. (Certainly not the first time NY has been out of step on important issues.) One study mentioned in the NARO announcement says that bans and moratoria in Boulder County, CO could result in more than one billion dollars of “takings” lawsuits by landowners. In other words, the lawsuits will bankrupt the towns and villages stupid enough to enact a ban. Are you listening Dryden and Middlefield? You won round one in NY–but the battle is far from over and taxpayers in your towns may one day rue your decision to act foolishly to ban fracking…
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New York | Statewide NY

Revisiting the Bakken Crude Shipment Through NY Debate
July 30, 2014July 30, 2014

Let’s revisit the issue of Bakken Shale oil traveling on down the train tracks. MDN has written to criticize New York anti-drillers who fought to get train movement information released–not so people could be safer but so they could use the information in their PR offensive against shale drilling. In the process they’ve made New Yorkers less safe (see New York Caves to Anti-Drillers Again: Discloses Oil Train Movements). Is there, however, another side to this story? A North Dakota resident sent out an op-ed to a number of media outlets, including MDN. In it he calls out his own state government for their unwillingness to force Bakken drillers to first separate out natural gas liquids from the light sweet crude produced in the Bakken–chemicals that make train shipments much more volatile and explosive. He says he supports drilling and simply wants the output from Bakken drilling cleaned up before shipping–to make it safer. Is it really that simple?…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

JLCNY Appeals Article 78 Case to Higher NY Court
July 29, 2014July 29, 2014

Yesterday the 70,000-member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) along with several individual landowners filed an appeal in their Article 78 lawsuit that was dismissed by a lower court in Albany County, NY earlier this month. You may recall that the JLCNY sued NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens, and state Health Dept. Commissioner Nirav Shah over their refusal to deliver fracking regulations (see D-Day: JLCNY Files Lawsuit Today Against Cuomo, Martens, Shah). Albany County Supreme Court, a lower level court in New York, said the JLCNY and others who filed the lawsuit had no “standing” to bring the suit (see (see NY Pro-Drillers Lose 2nd Important Shale Drilling Court Case). Not true, according to JLCNY president Dan Fitzsimmons…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Where Do Things Stand with NY Fracking? ProPublica “Explainer”
July 24, 2014July 24, 2014

The ProPublica website bills itself as “Journalism in the Public Interest.” Although the editors and writers on ProPublica tilt to the left of the political spectrum, we’ve found over the past year or two that most of the time their articles on fracking are pretty balanced–a surprising (and welcomed) aberration in the world of mainstream media. Such is the case with their latest article, a roundup on where things stand in the state of New York with respect to fracking. The writer (an intern!) does a good job of informing casual readers who may not follow the issue closely of just where things stand at this point. We liked the article and thought you might too…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Gov. Cuomo in No Particular Hurry to Decide on Fracking
July 18, 2014July 18, 2014

The man-child who can’t make a decision on fracking–New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo–did a sit-down interview with the editorial board of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle on Wednesday. When asked about fracking, he did what he always does–he made excuses. It seems Gov. Andy is no particular hurry on the issue…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

New York Caves to Anti-Drillers Again: Discloses Oil Train Movements
July 17, 2014July 17, 2014

When an oil train in New York explodes from a terrorist act, don’t say we didn’t warn you. The blood of it will be on the hands of eight environmental groups (including Earthjustice, Sierra Club and Riverkeeper). New York State officials caved and decided to turn over details about Bakken crude oil train movements through the Empire State in response to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request (see NY Enviro Groups Seek to Use Oil Trains to Their Advantage). The anti-drilling (and complicit) Albany Times Union newspaper helpfully published the details…
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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Regulation | Statewide NY

JLCNY Says Appeal of Article 78 Lawsuit Decision is “Very Likely”
July 16, 2014July 16, 2014

New Yorkers continue to react to the dismissal of a court case brought by the 70,000-member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) and Norse Energy against state officials to force them to release six-year-delayed fracking regulations (see NY Pro-Drillers Lose 2nd Important Shale Drilling Court Case). Below we have reaction from the JLCNY, which says it’s “very likely” to appeal the ruling from the lower NY court in Albany County, along with copies of the court decisions…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research | Statewide NY

NY Antis Release So-Called Compendium of Fracking Health Risks
July 16, 2014July 16, 2014

Apparently anti-drillers in New York State are tired of waiting for the State Dept. of Health (DOH) to release its findings on public healthy implications from proposed new fracking rules from the Dept. of Conservation (now six years overdue). So a group of anti-drillers calling themselves Concerned Health Professionals of New York (mostly it’s New York’s own anti-drilling diva Sandra Steingraber) put a couple of summer interns to good use and compiled a so-called “report” of alllllll the damage done by shale drilling–a compendium of its evil, nasty, vile effects. (Just don’t tell anyone in PA, WV, OH, TX, OK, CO, CA, ND or any other state where shale drilling is heavily done–those residents don’t realize they’ve been damaged)…
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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Pro-Drillers Lose 2nd Important Shale Drilling Court Case
July 15, 2014July 15, 2014

Yet another defeat for shale drilling in anti-drilling New York. First, the most important case that will hamper drilling in the Empire State was lost just a few weeks ago (see Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans). Yesterday, a lower court decided to toss out the “Article 78” lawsuit brought by the 70,000-member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York and Norse Energy against Gov. Andy Cuomo, DEC Sec. Joe Martens, and former Dept. of Health Sec. Nirav Shah (see D-Day: JLCNY Files Lawsuit Today Against Cuomo, Martens, Shah). The Article 78 lawsuit would have forced them to finally release new drilling rules as they are obviously colluding to stop the release. Other states take two years or less to review and allow shale drilling (see today’s story about North Carolina). It’s been over six years in New York, and with this decision, there is literally no end in sight…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Enviro Groups Seek to Use Oil Trains to Their Advantage
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

Spurred on by several accidents of trains transporting light crude oil from the Bakken Shale, one month ago the federal government ordered railroads to share more details about those shipments with the states through which they pass. One of those states is New York. Some (a lot) of Bakken crude goes to the Port of Albany, where terminals store the oil and transfer it to ships and barges heading down the Hudson River. New York State is still deciding what information, and how much, to share with the public. The information, according to railroad CSX, is supposed to be shared with first responders (and not the general public). That’s just not good enough for virulent anti-drilling groups like Earthjustice, the Sierra Clubers and THE Riverkeeper…
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