Statement: Gas Drillers on EPA Hearing Cancellation
Here’s a statement from Jim Smith of Corning Place Consulting, the firm that lobbies for IOGA, the Independent Oil and Gas Association:
IOGA looks forward to an open and honest conversation about our industry’s work and history in New York State, whenever and wherever possible. We hope that over the next few weeks, those who have questions about the development of the Marcellus Shale will come to understand that natural gas is a clean, environmentally friendly fuel that can provide opportunities for an economic resurgence in New York.
4 Comments
It’s amazing how an economic incentive can cloud people’s thinking. Gullible local landowners are rushing like lemmings to the bait set by natural gas extractors. The drillers make it seem like a drill pad on your land is dreamier than an all-expenses-paid trip to Disney World. I’ve talked to people who can tell you otherwise.
Is natural gas a clean fuel? Relatively cleaner than other energy sources like oil, but no is the correct answer. False. Is natural gas environmentally friendly? Compared to what? Do you think global warming is a joke? The world is on course this year to exceed the warmest average annual temperature ever recorded. Natural gas is a fossil fuel that releases greenhouse gases. Once again, better than oil, but by no means environmentally friendly. Jim Smith plays fast and loose with the facts. That’s what they pay him to do. I wonder what his kids will think of him in 20 years?
Truthful fact #3: The environmental damage hydrofracking would cause to NY’s landscape and waters would outlast any economic bump that the drilling provides. The drillers will suck the gas out of the ground with their intrusive pipe straws and leave the state without so much as a thank you. An “economic resurgence” based on a quickly exhaustible energy source is another absurdity. Jim Smith gets paid well to spout absurdities.
The natural gas vultures are circling NY State like a wounded antelope. Like I said, it’s amazing how an economic incentive can fog the mind…. and our future.
FYI – the L.Stein that commented above is in no way related to LJ Stein & Company.
FYI – I believe LJ Stein and Company is a energy insurance broker. This is quite a coincidence. Indeed, I have no connection with this firm and I’m speaking strictly as a private citizen.
There will be hydrofracking in New York State. Is that your assessment, Susan? Do you think the drilling moratorium is just a legislative ruse to delay accountability to the voters until after the upcoming election? If so, I agree.
There is an interesting paradox to be found in all of this. On the one hand, the state has spent millions of taxpayer dollars to remediate industrial brownfields. On the other hand, our public officials – including Andrew Cuomo – are preparing to create thousands of new gas well brownfields across NYS in the speculative hope of job creation and economic benefit. Never mind that the state is endorsing environmental degradation and public health risks on a massive scale, which will almost certainly cause severe long-term damage and taxpayer expense.
The gas exploiters and their political allies see big dollar signs in their cut of the hydrofracking pie, while most of the rest of us will be left with the crumbs and the cleanup. In my opinion, if we have to resort to this type of activity in order meet our governmental budget needs, we are only delaying the inevitable. The Southern Tier has been in decline for decades. The short-term benefits of hydrofracking will provide a stay of execution, but the slow slide into irrelevance will continue. The choice to allow hydrofracking in NYS is an act of economic and political desperation. It is also the death knell for a region that has made little forward movement in a changing national and world economy.