Life, liberty, pursuit of property

By DAN FITZSIMMONS, Commentary in Times Union.com

Published 10:01 p.m., Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Too many people are unaware that the famous promise in the American Declaration of Independence — to protect "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" — was actually a last-minute edit. Thomas Jefferson had originally written, "Life, liberty and property," a phrase that more closely resembles our founding fathers' commitment to limited government influence on the people.

While the other authors nixed property and went with the more pleasant-sounding pursuit of happiness, Jefferson's choice of words proves prophetic for many New Yorker's today.

Right now, in excess of 70,000 New York residents are fighting to protect their property rights and prevent an effective government seizure of billions of dollars in personal wealth. Pick up any newspaper in the state, and you'll likely read about this government seizure. It's more commonly known as the debate over rules to develop natural gas in New York.

Unfortunately, it's rare to find more than a few sentences of coverage addressing the property seizure aspect of the state's ongoing moratorium on gas development. The critical rights of landowners have become no more than a mandatory talking point any fair reporter must include — "landowners claim drilling will bring economic benefits."

Last week, New York landowners changed that by announcing our own...

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Report: Regulations reducing gas-drilling impacts

Associated Press 5/15

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A study by the University at Buffalo's new shale gas institute concludes that state oversight of gas drilling has been effective at reducing environmental problems.

The report released Tuesday examined almost 3,000 violations from nearly 4,000 gas wells in Pennsylvania since 2008. It found the percentage of environmental violations compared to the number of wells drilled fell from 58.2 percent in 2008 to 30.5 percent in 2010.

It concludes that Pennsylvania's updated regulations have been effective and New York's current regulations would prevent the major environmental events identified in Pennsylvania. Drilling hasn't been allowed in New York since regulators began a review in 2008.

Some opponents, who staged a large rally at the state capitol Tuesday, want a ban on drilling and say no regulations can protect the environment.

Coming This Fall: A Natural Gas Price Rebound

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Riverkeeper Strategy Depends on Obscure Reclassification of Streams

UPDATE: Subsequent to the filing of this post I received a message from Patrick Henderson, Energy Executive, Office of Governor Tom Corbett, challenging my characterization of Kelly Hefner’s role with respect to the Exceptional Value petition of the Delaware Riverkeeper.  Mr. Henderson assured me, in the course of a detailed discussion, that Heffner was only exercising an administrative duty, engaged in no advocacy whatsoever, and was fully in support of natural gas development within the Delaware River basin, under the condition that it’s done safely and responsibly.  I take him at his word.

There’s a move afoot to ruin the hopes, dreams and economic futures of some of the poorest residents of the Delaware River basin.  It’s being led by some of the wealthiest residents who happen to live downstate or out-of-state, even out-of-basin, who would like nothing better than to depopulate the upper basin and save it as a playground for themselves, with total disregard for the aspirations and needs of those of us who actually have to make a living here.

The Delaware Riverkeeper, out of the Philadelphia area, is spearheading the campaign.  It proposes to upgrade the stream classification of the river to one called “Exceptional Value,” which sounds great — but in...

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Errors in Myers’ Marcellus Shale Groundwater Paper from Start to Finish

Don Siegel, PhD
Professor of Hydrogeology, Syracuse University
Adjunct Professor, SUNY Departments of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Forest Engineering.

Last month, the journal of the National Ground Water Association published a paper by an environmental consultant in Nevada in which the proposition is put forth that the vertical transport of contaminants from the Marcellus Shale formation of southern New York to potable, near-surface aquifers is not only plausible, but likely – brought to us in as few as “three years,” he argues, and all because of hydraulic fracturing.

It’s an explosive thesis, to be sure – but one that’s also fatally flawed; very good news for those of us who actually live here in upstate New York. Predictably, and perhaps as designed, the paper generated a great deal of attention in the press after ProPublica first reported its conclusions on May 1. But as I attempt to explain below, the physical realities governing the hydrodynamic flow of fluids underground can’t be

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Pro-frackers: Development is a landowner’s right

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New York Fracking: Landowners Assert Right To Shale Gas Development

Mary Esch AP in Huff Post

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A coalition of upstate New York landowners seeking to lease land for natural gas drilling pressed state officials Wednesday to consider the rights of property owners as they make decisions on shale gas development.

The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York was at the Capitol to present a "Declaration of Rights."

"Landowners' rights are being trampled by those with extreme political agendas," said Dan Fitzsimmons of Binghamton, president of the 70,000-member coalition. He referred to groups seeking a ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which injects chemically treated water into drilled wells to release gas from shale.

Opponents of fracking say it poses significant health risks, including the potential to contaminate water supplies. They argue that one landowner's rights don't trump the rights of neighbors who will be subjected to the noise, traffic, environmental risks and other issues when heavy industrial development comes to a rural or residential area.

The industry and environmental groups have stepped up lobbying in Albany as the Legislature considers bills including one to ban fracking. The Department of Environmental Conservation may decide in coming months whether to allow the technology after four years of studying the environmental impacts and developing new guidelines and regulations to ensure it's done safely.

"We have the opportunity to create a vibrant new economy in New York. Unfortunately, we are currently being denied that opportunity by those who base their opposition on information that is not backed by science,"

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Chesapeake Upgrades, Repairs Pennsylvania Roads

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Benefits of Natural Gas Production Realized by “Every Single Pennsylvanian”

Published in  North Central PA.com

Canonsburg, PA – While a clear majority of Americans – facing stubbornly high national unemployment and underemployment rates – still believe that the U.S. economy is getting worse, according to new Rasmussen Reports research, positive, private sector-driven economic growth continues to buck trends across Appalachia.

One key factor? According to a new Associated Press analysis, Pennsylvania mineral owners and family famers received more than $400 million in Marcellus Shale royalty payments in 2011 alone, while the natural gas industry invested several billion dollars in the commonwealth during that time. As Fadel Gheit, a senior oil and gas analyst with Oppenheimer & Co., tells the AP, “We are producing record levels of natural gas.”

This from the AP story:

• Gheit said the real value of shale gas is that the lower energy cost is making American industry more competitive around the world. That opens doors for long-term investments, such as Shell Oil’s plan to build a huge petrochemical plant in western Pennsylvania. “In my view this is much bigger than anything we’ve seen in our lives” as far as a new energy development, Gheit said of shale gas.

• Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale...

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