Posted on 08/14/2012 1:20:32 PM PDT by 92nina
As New York’s Department of Energy Conservation (DEC) prepares to issue a report on hydraulic fracturing, DEC Commissioner Joseph Martens finds himself in a precarious position. As former founder of Catskill Mountainkeepers—your run-of-the-mill anti-energy, anti-hydraulic fracturing group—Martens spent most of his days making sure oil and natural gas producers were creating jobs in Pennsylvania, not New York.
Hydraulic fracturing is effectively banned in New York State (indefinite moratorium) which means that the Utica Shale play, the natural gas formation that stretches from West Virginia to New York, is off-limits. Were NY’s DEC to issue an objective report about the pros and cons of hydraulic fracturing, the state might begin a measured conversation about increasing energy production, creating jobs, and reducing the state’s budget gap.
Unfortunately, given Martens’s background and predispositions, an objective report and subsequent adult conversation will never occur. What a shame. While New York’s unemployment level is 8.9 percent, it is certainly higher in the state’s rural regions where most of the New York’s energy reserves are found. While Manhattan may be recession proof, much of blue-collar New York is hurting.
Since 2010, development of shale reserves has supported an astounding 600,000 jobs, a number that is only increasing. Adding insult to injury for New York’s unemployed, many of these jobs are found in nearby states like Pennsylvania and Ohio. Hydraulic fracturing—a tried and true method of extracting oil and natural gas—coupled with horizontal drilling will continue to be a boon for America’s economy; an estimated 70 percent of natural gas development in the future will come from hydraulic fracturing.
But hydraulic fracturing is much bigger than the oil and natural gas industry. America’s abundance of natural gas has directly fueled a manufacturing renaissance in two ways. Natural gas is cheap, very cheap, which means that electricity prices will decrease. America’s manufacturers, what few are left, are under such immense pressure from globalization that a ten percent drop in electricity prices might make the difference between closing up shop and keeping the lights on. Secondly, chemical companies that use natural gas as a feedstock are literally closing shops abroad and reopening them in the United States.
With all the excitement surrounding American energy development, it is a shame to see New York State on the sidelines.
Read more: http://atr.org/new-york-state-lift-hydraulic-fracturing-a7136#ixzz23YOZHuMz
One more reason: We’re tired of all the New York license plates down here.
We have more damn natural gas from shale than we know what to do with. Let the stupid bast—— in New York, freeze in the dark and pay higher taxes while the rest of the states collect the revenue from shale gas extraction.
My apologies to the people in Up State New York. They are not stupid bast——.
The Utica as well as its younger cousin, the Marcellus Shale, extend into New York.
Believe me the “No Frack” crowd is extremely loud and annoying here in upstate NY:
http://forums.fingerlakes1.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1358353&page=1#Post1358353
feel free to FREEP this moron!!!
Admittedly, I have asked this question before. What happens when the prospector for the gas drilling company finds an orphan oil well on the prospect?
There are reasons for reasonable controls on how and where gas should be produced (with reasonable open for debate). I find the luddite enviros to be completely lacking in sense. The Allegheny trend, I believe extends into NY, and it was one of the first tapped oil fields in the world. This is not an unspoiled wilderness, despite what Enviros would like it to be.
It has been my experience that if an orphan well is found, the company may not lease the land because of their liability if the well has issues (which is rare). In many states, there are funds set up to plug these old wells if they can’t find the rightful operator. With oil nearly at $100 a barrel, even a marginal well can be profitable so it is likely that the orphan well is incapable of production.
One caveat would be if it is a relatively large lease in a promising area, say over 1000 acres. Then, someone may plug the well and hope that the landowners don’t lawyer up and try to hose them over some pollution issue. They happens especially if it is a large company with presumed deep pockets and in states where the surface and minerals can be severed. The surface owners see it as a way to get their big payday since they don’t own minerals.
They are pretty loud and annoying here in Pennsylvania too. But there are only a handful of them and we just tend to ignore them. ;~))
They are the usual hard left punks who oppose anything which might be good for the economy, the private sector or the country.
God blessed us with this shale gas. It is beginning to turn things around in Western PA, Northern West Virginia and Eastern Ohio -- the old rust belt. Lots of good paying 'Blue Collar' jobs and many more to come in the future as industry comes back with access to plentiful and affordable fuel.
I know Upstate and Western New York could sure use a boost like this as well. If anything, some of those old towns up there are hurting even worse than Western PA ever was. It's the damn NYC left wing political hacks who are behind stopping development. They just don't give a crap about the peasants out in the wilderness clinging to their guns and Bibles.
Frack baby Frack!
Their goal is to turn upstate ny into a giant national park and playground for downstaters. Make it a tourist state—umm MAINE is a tourist state with NOTORIOUSLY LOW service industry wages.
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