Gov. Cuomo bows to the left and puts 'fracking' on hold:
ALBANY — A few months after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was poised to approve hydraulic fracturing in several struggling New York counties, his administration is reversing course and starting the regulatory process over, garnering praise from environmental groups and stirring anger among industry executives and upstate landowners.
Ten days ago, after nearly four years of review by state regulators, the governor bowed to entreaties from environmentalists to conduct another study, this one an examination of potential impacts on public health. Neither the governor nor other state officials have given any indication of how long the study might take.
How long will it take to nail down a decision? They need to ask Cumo's pollsters and fundraisers. However, this indecision will probably make Cuomo unelectable on the national stage, although it might very well make him a favorite for the Dem Party Presidential nomination:
The developments have created a sense in Albany that Mr. Cuomo is consigning fracking to oblivion. The governor has been influenced by the unshakable opposition from a corps of environmentalists and celebrity activists who are concerned about the safety of the water supply. The opponents include a number of people close to the governor, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime environmental activist in New York whose sister is the governor’s ex-wife.
The fracking issue is the biggest environmental question, and the most polarizing, facing Albany, and New York’s decision is being closely watched nationally, as President Obama and Mitt Romney have both expressed support for increased use of natural gas as a means to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. The natural gas industry has been eager to drill in the Marcellus Shale, a deep underground repository that runs through West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Extraction there was too complex and costly until the advent of hydrofracking.
...opposition to fracking has become such a touchstone for liberals that approving it, even in a limited fashion, would undoubtedly alienate some of his most dependable supporters. Anti-fracking protesters have shadowed Mr. Cuomo for months, at his home, his office, and his speaking engagements, and a wide array of celebrities, including Lady Gaga and Yoko Ono, have mobilized to express opposition to the technology.
“Andrew has a very good political antenna, and we’ve never seen anything like this in terms of grass-roots power,” Mr. Kennedy, whose father was a United States attorney general, said in a telephone interview. “In 30 years, I have not seen anything come close to this, in terms of the mobilization of the grass roots. You’ve got 20,000 people in the state who consider themselves to be anti-frack activists. So I think that’s got to impact the political process all around.”
Gee, if Lady GaGa is against it, how can any responsible Democrat be for it?
The Times closes with a buried, embittered rumination:
It was not entirely clear what further health impacts would be studied that were not already encompassed by the review process that began in the summer of 2008. In a statement in response to questions, the Department of Environmental Conservation said “health impacts were not overlooked” in the agency’s prior reviews, and “were fully assessed” in a draft environmental impact study that was released last year.
Joseph Martens, the agency’s commissioner, said last week: “Obviously if there was a public health concern that could not be addressed we would not proceed.”
Senator Thomas W. Libous, a Binghamton Republican and leading proponent of fracking, said he hoped the new study was “the last major hurdle,” adding, “I want to believe that.”
If Democrats can embrace this fear of the future at the national level, we can be in thrall to the Middle East for another generation. Or, they can reclaim their out-of-power-and-deservedly-so status.
[Barry] Commoner insisted that scientists had an obligation to make scientific information accessible to the general public, so that citizens could participate in public debates that involved scientific questions.
What ? Average citizens are totally unqualified to debate anything as they are not "peers." Just ask any "climate scientist."
Posted by: Neo | October 01, 2012 at 11:31 AM
A Cuomo who is an interminable wanker, more likely to attract praise from the credentialed idiots for his "thoughtfulness" on things in lieu of actually doing something? I didn't see that coming!
Posted by: Captain Hate | October 01, 2012 at 11:33 AM
Listen racialist tree hating wingnutz...
How else can we finance both sides of the War on Terror, unless we continue to voluntarily send blood and treasure to the Middle East?
"Shut up!" Matt Damon calmly explained.
Posted by: Soylent Red | October 01, 2012 at 11:40 AM
As Henry Kissinger said, you can go on forever without reaching a conclusion. But you can't wait forever to make a decision.
Posted by: Danube of Thought | October 01, 2012 at 11:41 AM
How can Obama have 50%? How can he have 30%? We can blame the pollsters, but the electorate seems to have been fundamentally transformed.
Posted by: MarkO | October 01, 2012 at 11:42 AM
Politics, pure and simple.
Cuomo could have pursued the reasoned approach but, no, there is no room for reason when we're talking science.
BTW, Andrew, explain to us how science proves something true?
Posted by: sbw | October 01, 2012 at 11:43 AM
NYS now challenges Calif, Ill, Ct and RI for the race to insolvency. I think Ct and RI will win the dubious distinction of the first bankrupt state b/c of their small ecomomies of scale, but that shouldn't make NYS, Ill and Calif residents feel any better, those states' day of reckoning will come soon enough. Indeed, the Calif implosion will be truly spectacular. PS: former client Andrew (he's no genius BTW) may have just made Fracking states OH AND Pa. RR locks. Way to go Andrew!
Posted by: NK | October 01, 2012 at 11:52 AM
Among the many ironies illustrated in the changing of the script for Damon's movie, and its funding is another: Natural Gas releases half as much CO2 as coal for the same energy produced. Once upon a time I had the chemistry to explain that.
Great Britain is glacially coming to their senses about fracking, but then, their situation is more perilous than ours.
================
Posted by: So many ironies, so few sighs. | October 01, 2012 at 11:57 AM
There is war on conventional energy that has been wage by the pre-Raphaelite Left for the past 40 years that has found succor in the Democratic Party.
The Shell game in Alaska; the coal bans; the extended shut down of San Onofre out here in California; there is a focused effort to shut down the grid and modern society.
Living here in Southern California we are subject to some of the worst water quality in the nation. It is barely potable sometimes. We are now subject to brown outs and black outs that should never have been allowed.
Our Central Valley is in a man made depression at a time of food inflation because they won't release water from the Delta because of the snail darter.
If we continue along this path we will end up like Lagos or Baghdad where the power only comes on part of the day.
The Green lobby is slowly pushing California 100 years backwards. Of course no one cares about Upstate New York anyway. They don't think like the right thinking folk in Manhatten.
Posted by: matt | October 01, 2012 at 12:01 PM
Barry Commoner's ecological vision gets cited by educators pushing this systems thinking approach to the classroom and a redesigned economy. I had never heard of him until a few months ago and the Nation picks NOW to run a story.
I am starting to feel like the Transformational tsunami is coming regardless of the election in November. If RR prevails the idea seems to be too many already moving parts at taxpayer expense to stop.
Posted by: rse | October 01, 2012 at 12:03 PM
matt-have you seenme write about the idea that there will be no innovation or new technology going to production stage without the prior approval of the UN mandarins?
In order to develop a tactic and strategy for stealth political, social, and economic control, everything that functioned well in the past is being destroyed or is now to be subject to overview.
Posted by: rse | October 01, 2012 at 12:06 PM
Posted by: Melinda Romanoff | October 01, 2012 at 12:12 PM
-- a corps of environmentalists and celebrity activists who are concerned about the safety of the water supply--
No they aren't.
Posted by: Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki | October 01, 2012 at 12:17 PM
Sometimes I think we stand with triggers on toy pistols on Juggernautanenmen Square.
===============
Posted by: And sometimes I don't. | October 01, 2012 at 12:19 PM
Pure lunacy.
Do not forget, matt and rse, that they are also pulling down dams.
Pure, unadulterated madness.
Yet the electorate seems not to mind being walked all over.
The business in the Central Valley is a case in point.
The left is out to destroy Western Civilization.
Of course, their real masters will have plenty of energy.
It is amazing such nitwits and vipers have such power in our society and nation. Suicide by imbecile.
(BTW, You can full expect that should Obama stay in power Ill, CA and NY will get bailed out by the FEDs at the taxpayers expense. No small part of the "Stimulus" went to troubled Democrat state and municipal governments.
By hook or by crook they will get away with "nationalizing" the debts of these States. Obama will just bypass Congress if he cannot get oil though the Hill. They could care less about the implications.
Posted by: squaredance | October 01, 2012 at 12:20 PM
Whoa, Mel, those links are hawsers.
=================
Posted by: Run, rat, run. | October 01, 2012 at 12:24 PM
SquareDance-- disagree with one thing. 'Bam (god forbid he's elected again) would nationalize Cal, Ill, RI and Ct pension debts (NYS is 'fully funded') because that would start a civil war with solvent Red States-- Bam doesn't have the balls for that. However, e WOULD use SallieMae to forgive student loans.
Posted by: NK | October 01, 2012 at 12:30 PM
Pardon-- Bam would NOT nationalize....
Posted by: NK | October 01, 2012 at 12:31 PM
NK-
Oh yes he would.
Posted by: Melinda Romanoff | October 01, 2012 at 12:32 PM
MelR-- unfortunately for you, you do have more local knowledge of Bam the socialist. IMO, he's a pussy and doesn't have the balls for that kind of fight.
Posted by: NK | October 01, 2012 at 12:42 PM
Stealth only, done in the dark of an appropriations bill for the military would be SOP.
Posted by: Melinda Romanoff | October 01, 2012 at 12:43 PM
NK, Obama may not have the testicular fortitude to nationalize the pension debts of failing states, but ValJar does. And I think ValJar will be even more powerful in a second Obama Administration.
Posted by: Thomas Collins | October 01, 2012 at 12:48 PM
ValJar will also be pushing to internationalize the West Bank and Gaza. Look for a push by the Obama Administration to push Israeli back to the late 1940s borders and to support a UN "peacekeeping" force to patrol areas Israel leaves.
I realize there's no chance Israel would accept this, and the Obama Administration will have to back down. But by breaking with our longstanding ally Israel, a second Obama Administration would make the Middle Eastern situation even more dangerous.
Posted by: Thomas Collins | October 01, 2012 at 12:59 PM
The Blue Hells of Cal, Ill and Ct have over 25B of unfunded pension contributions during this decade, nationwide it's OVER $50B -- that's just contributions, the 8% ROI pro forma for the funds is a sick joke in a ZIRP world. You can't HIDE that sort of bailout, it's FAR bigger than the GM/UAW bailout.
Posted by: NK | October 01, 2012 at 01:01 PM
TC-- ValJar would push for it because she's a moron. Then the Dem $$$ bigshots would call and point out that such a bailout accelerates the end of T-Bills as a reliable debt instrument. The Dems can't destroy their access to Federal Treasury debt, that's the only way they can pay for socialism. Sooooo... goodbye Calif, Ill,Ct and RI.
Posted by: NK | October 01, 2012 at 01:05 PM
If I were Cuomo's mama, I'd advise him that it would be a good idea to stay away from the Kennedys--just sayin' Of course Lady Gaga, well, who knows fracking better than she?
Posted by: Clarice | October 01, 2012 at 01:09 PM
Interesting, Mel.
Posted by: Clarice | October 01, 2012 at 01:10 PM
Clarice-- Andy C did marry a Kennedy in 1990-- Kerry, RFK Jr's daughter. She started boffing a Polo player and Andy divorced her in 2003. I had to remember not to bring up polo during client meetings with him.
Posted by: NK | October 01, 2012 at 01:17 PM
On SQ's point on pulling down the dams, that's part of the war against technology subjugating nature. It is the same pitch used to complain about pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The Bioregional and Environmental Justice part of this How to get to 51% coalition does not really fit with the pitch sold to Big Business to get them on board. One of the ways I know I am about the read an actual end goal is when the rhetoric starts to ratchet up reasons for a change that I know are not first. Goal first then rationale. Not nice of me to notice such things.
The Bioregional idea is that there will be no more states or really countries and that the natural watersheds will dictate designated urban areas. As I say with the education aspect to this whole control the economy and people scheme, "This won't work so when are we go to face that the desired end goals are untenable?"
And I agree with Mel. There was a reference to both teachers unions in the document I worked on this morning that basically ended up reminding me that NEA would be making money off of pushing Purple America and Project Love and they would join together with the Building One America community organizers.
Stanley Kurtz would find that document interesting because it clearly does all fit. And they really do plan to use the schools to practice their community organizing theories. It even said so.
No mention though of Saul or Alliance. I do not think they appreciate that cat is out of the bag.
And Annenberg would continue to be outraged at all the harm is charitable gift to public ed has created.
Posted by: rse | October 01, 2012 at 01:32 PM
No Good Deed goes unpunished.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-01/china-stimulates-economy-suspending-road-tolls-golden-week-millions-end-stuck-traffi
--------------------------
Iran has apparently destroyed it's own currency. Probably an idea picked up on the trip to the UN last week.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-01/iran-rial-implodes-20-one-day-follow-death-currency-real-time
"The rial's losses have accelerated in the past week after the government launched an "exchange centre" designed to supply dollars to importers of some basic goods at a special rate slightly cheaper than the market rate."
Posted by: pagar | October 01, 2012 at 02:09 PM
The Mullahs don't sweat things like Rial debasement; the 12th Imam will fix stuff like that-- fix in the sense of a mushroom cloud.
Posted by: NK | October 01, 2012 at 02:35 PM
I did know that, nk..which is why I wrote what I did.
Posted by: Clarice | October 01, 2012 at 03:01 PM
Ah....
Posted by: NK | October 01, 2012 at 03:05 PM
... got it.
Posted by: NK | October 01, 2012 at 03:05 PM
Oops, here we go again,
http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/10/elizabeth-warren-2005-assists-on-paper-regarding-unauthorized-practice-of-law/
Posted by: narciso | October 01, 2012 at 03:16 PM
I got quite a chukkar out of that polo reference, nk.
Posted by: matt | October 01, 2012 at 03:17 PM
Mind you, he's proven himself to be gullible fool, so it's par for the course
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeffrey-meyer/2012/10/01/not-your-grandfather-s-journalist-new-york-magazine-s-john-heilemann-
Posted by: narciso | October 01, 2012 at 04:34 PM
A little more reassuring, although somewhat discouraging all the same.
http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/10/01/elizabeth-warren-lead-over-scott-brown-narrows-two-points-wbur-poll/uZrW7LT45VorSTvhtFx1QO/story.html?comments=all#readerComm
Posted by: narciso | October 01, 2012 at 04:38 PM
Imagine Andrew Cuomo as Kevin Bacon and you'll understand why "Coo-mo" caved to the Eco-Progs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdFLPn30dvQ
Posted by: MarkJ | October 01, 2012 at 05:00 PM
Narciso, don't put any stock in the Boston Globe polls. They had Marcia up by 15 over Brown with just over a week to go. Hell, they can't even get the weather report right. They've been running a Wednesday forecast for severe thunderstorms every day since early September, and only fixed it today when I e-mailed them.
Posted by: Dave (in MA) | October 01, 2012 at 05:07 PM
I have a summer home in Narrowsburg, NY right across the Delaware River from Honesdale, PA.
No fracking allowed in NY; but is allowed in PA. Narroswburg dying econmically; Honesdale a boom town.
Thanks enviros, Andy, dumbass Dems.
Posted by: patch | October 02, 2012 at 07:25 AM
At $3.00 per mcf, frackling is uneconomic, and it's probably still uneconomic at $6.00 per mcf--so it's kinda a moot point. Let the politicians kick the can down the road.
Posted by: Forbes | October 02, 2012 at 05:06 PM
This web site really has all of the information I
wanted about this subject and didn't know who to ask.
Posted by: forex | October 08, 2012 at 03:50 AM