Governor Paterson Does The Right Thing

Congratulations to Governor David Paterson for vetoing the misguided anti-drilling legislation. It was clearly the right thing to do. By doing so, the Governor has saved the operations of over 300 companies who have been operating safely in New York for decades. Had the legislation been approved, 5000 existing jobs would have disappeared. This is the 'vision' that the down-staters and anti-drillers would bestow upon the working people of New York ... lose more jobs, reduce the tax rolls, and put even more people on unemployment! All because they want to subject the natural gas industry to standards that other industries don't have to adhere to. The anti-drilling crowd wants a 100% guarantee that there will never be any sort of pollution caused by the production of natural gas. Well, if you held other industries to the same standards, you would not have any industry at all.

Rep-elect Reed Seeks Marcellus Caucus

According to buffalonews.com, newly elected Representative Tom Reed, R-Corning, "plans to pull together like-minded members of Congress to push for fuller development of the natural gas reserves in the Marcellus Shale." Reed was quoted as saying, "I am a promoter of developing the Marcellus Shale. I believe we can do it responsibly. Now is the time to move forward."

NY State Politicians Show Their Ignorance

Both the state Senate and Assembly have now passed a temporary moratorium on natural gas drilling. We now wait on Governor David Paterson to decide if he'll sign the legislation. The backers of this legislation have shown through their actions that they are either a) ignorant to the facts involving gas drilling or b) just plain stupid. This bill affects not only future exploration that could add thousands of NEW jobs, but it will affect existing exploration & production that could kill hundreds of EXISTING jobs.

We're not excusing or condoning any action akin to natural gas production that contaminates our earth, air, and water. We simply want to move FORWARD safely (it can and is being done) and in a reasonable time frame. This issue has been 'on our doorstep' for almost THREE YEARS and these clowns are just now deciding to put things on hold so we can 'study' the situation. Why do we even have a Department of Environmental Conservation if politicians don't accept their input? Should we just fire all of the DEC employees? No, in this case 'study' means avoiding a vote that might upset some constituents. As with our state deficit and, in typical political fashion, they're just 'kicking it down the road'.