Thomas J Shepstone's Blog – May 2013 Archive (10)

Andy Ditherer Cuomo

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo practices the fine art of political obfuscation and delay with two of his latest pronouncements on the subject of natural gas development in a state that desperately needs it – now.

Two stories from last week are harbingers of bad news for landowners and businesses who want to see fracking begin in New York: (1) Gov. Andy “Ditherer” Cuomo told the Syracuse Post-Standard editorial board he’s pushing off a decision on fracking until next year’s 2014…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on May 30, 2013 at 11:15pm — No Comments

THINK, New Yorkers!

Natural gas in upstate New York communities is common and long-standing, yet the state wrings its hands over allowing its citizens to produce it, even when the safety is well-documented and the economic need is apparent to all. New Yorkers need to THINK, please!

Broome County lies next door to me and has used natural gas as a main source of heat for over 100 years, as have cities such as Ithaca, one of the hotbeds of natural gas opposition today. Here's how it happened:

"NYSEG…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on May 29, 2013 at 10:21pm — No Comments

Scranton Times-Tribune Trashes Industry While Selling To It

The Lynett family, owner of Scranton Times-Tribune newspaper and the affiliated Northeast Driller, has been simultaneously trashing the natural gas industry and profiting from it. Now it has allied itself with an anti-gas group in what may be an attempt to steer business toward another business venture – an environmental services company.

The Scranton Times-Tribune launched another attack on the natural gas industry in last Sunday’s edition with the outrageous top of the fold front…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on May 26, 2013 at 11:56am — No Comments

NY Families Face Crisis without a Little Help from Their Friends

As women living in the Marcellus Shale region of the United States, it is important to understand what natural gas means to our families. Having seen the film Women of the Marcellus, I decided to look into what it is like to try to raise a family in an economically deprived area with an abundant natural resource under our feet.

Raising a family isn’t easy. Between picking the perfect school systems, to making sure kids have what they need as far as food and clothing, being a parent is…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on May 21, 2013 at 10:26pm — No Comments

Regional Engineering Firm Shows Shale Success

Bergmann Associates, an engineering and consulting firm, demonstrates the tremendous business opportunities in the shale gas industry. Businesses like Bergmann Associates prove time and again that the natural gas industry has the ability to provide good paying jobs and opportunities for anyone.

The Marcellus and Utica Shales are massive economic engines! Study after study confirms this, showing economic growth stimulated from royalties to jobs to taxes. There are many success stories…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on May 21, 2013 at 7:21am — No Comments

Fracking Fear-Mongering

A recent incident in Franklin Forks, Pennsylvania, demonstrates just how easily the record can be distorted on natural gas development by special interests determined to exploit accusations, assertions and speculation as if they were facts.

Some folks reading the title ”Guilty until Proven Innocent” might not catch the error in this statement.

Public opinion has become the new justice system as a mob mentality seems to have taken over. Too often, though, the opinion,…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on May 18, 2013 at 6:00pm — No Comments

The Incredible World of Natural Gas Opposition

Credible means “offering reasonable grounds to be believed.” Consider whether the word “credible” applies to any of the dire predictions made on the first Earth Day in 1970. Ecologist Ken Watt said, “By the year 2000…there won’t be any more crude oil.” Biologist Barry Commoner said, “We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation and the world as a suitable place of human habitation.” Harvard biologist George Wald said, “Civilization will end within 15 or 30…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on May 16, 2013 at 9:40pm — No Comments

Poll Shows Broad MI and PA Support for Natural Gas

A recent story in State Impact focused on the results of one poorly phrased and misleading question out of several in a poll that ended up showing broad public support for natural gas development. That one question suggested citizens of both Michigan and Pennsylvania desired moratoriums on hydraulic fracturing but other survey results contrasted sharply with this conclusion.

When polling results don’t fit the template, some media sources try bending the polling curve to suit their…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on May 15, 2013 at 10:17pm — No Comments

Appeals court finds for political correctness

Recent court decisions, which one hopes will soon be further appealed, strike another blow against both property rights and rational thinking in New York State, both of which have already been in very short supply.

Well, the New York State’s Third Judicial Department has upheld the Dryden and Middlefield decisions, and our friends on the other side are doing some early crowing. It’s a disappointing but hardly unexpected decision, as readers of this blog know from observers who…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on May 7, 2013 at 1:54pm — No Comments

Activist Rainmaking for Trial Lawyers

Local activists have created a new group called Energy In Denial, playing on the Energy In Depth name in a naive attempt to take their grassroots efforts to a national level. Ironically, “Energy In Denial” couldn’t be a more fitting name for its founders, although we suggest it be shortened to simply read “Denial.”

When an organization spoofs your name, you’re going to look into it. Even if that group has differing opinions from you, the fact creators feel the need to piggyback off of…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on May 5, 2013 at 5:53am — No Comments

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