CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

Two Ithaca-area lawmakers have begun inquiries following reports that the gas industry may have underestimated the cost of extracting shale gas from underground formations.

New York State Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, D-Ithaca, and U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, expressed alarm after reports in The New York Times on Monday revealed that rule changes and oversight problems at the Securities and Exchange Commission may have caused natural gas companies to overestimate their reserves. The Times also detailed the use of data from industry-biased sources and intra-agency disagreements regarding gas reserve estimates at the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

"These reports raise serious questions about the economics behind the shale gas rush," Hinchey said. "Now, it's up to the SEC and the EIA to get to the bottom of these charges and ensure that the public has accurate and honest information about our country's shale gas reserves. EIA has some serious questions to answer and the SEC needs to investigate whether investors have been intentionally misled."

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Most of the vehicles that filled the parking lot in front of the Campus Center on Ithaca College's campus had one thing in common: bumper stickers.

Many cars had a small black sticker that said FRACK in white letters with a red slash through it.

Another read, "Hydrofracking is immoral: Thou shalt not poison thy neighbor's water and air." One read, "Stop Marcellus Shale. Fracking = poison water."

One blue pick-up truck had two wooden panels attached to each side of the car that read: "Solar and wind power = green jobs now. Say no to gas drilling. Say yes to clean air and water."

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Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Energy Committee Chair Kevin Cahill today announced the passage of legislation to reauthorize and improve the Article X power plant siting law, provide for an on-bill recovery program for Green Jobs-Green New York Customers, and identify strategies to increase solar energy generation in New York.

"The residents and businesses of New York need clean, affordable and reliable electricity sources," said Silver (D-Manhattan). "The Power NY Act will allow New York to utilize rapidly advancing technology, encourage cleaner energy generation, and create jobs by attracting high-tech energy companies. With the inclusion of additional environmental justice and community health-related standards, we will help give New Yorkers an increased voice in the development of power plants in their communities."

"This legislation takes bold actions in terms of encouraging new markets for solar energy, enacting a new power plant siting law and providing homeowners and small businesses with access to new energy efficiency opportunities," said Cahill (D-Kingston). "We will finally put in place a process that will encourage the development of cleaner, more efficient environmentally friendly power generation while encouraging greater input and participation from the community. Adding on-bill recovery to our Green Jobs program will remove the financial hurdles that prevent homeowners from investing in common sense money saving energy efficiency improvements."

After the previous power plant siting law expired in 2003, the Assembly committed to protecting host communities and the surrounding environment from the potential harmful effects of new power plants. Under this legislation (A.8510/Cahill), any proposals for the siting of facilities that generate at least 25 megawatts - down from the previous 80-megawatt threshold - would require a detailed analyses of potential health and environmental impacts. Additionally, environmental justice concerns will be reviewed by a newly created siting board, which will include representation of local appointees selected by legislative leaders from a pool of candidates submitted by locally elected officials. To ensure further environmental protections, the legislation directs the Department of Environmental Conservation to promulgate standards to regulate power plant emissions, including carbon dioxide, mercury and sulfur dioxide.

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If proposed state legislation is approved today, the siting of wind power projects in the north country will be decided by a committee in Albany, not local planning boards.

State and local wind power proponents have supported Article X in the past, saying that it limits to one year how long the siting approval and permitting process can take. Under local review, projects have lagged for three, four or more years.

Wind power opponents tend to oppose Article X out of suspicion of Albany's renewable energy policies and its push to build wind-power projects.

The Article X provisions will be part of a larger energy policy bill after a three-way agreement among the governor and legislature leaders, making passage likely.

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Over the past year, five states have begun requiring energy companies to disclose some of the chemicals they pump into the ground to extract oil and gas using the process of hydraulic fracturing.

While state regulators and the drilling industry say the rules should help resolve concerns about the safety of drilling, critics and some toxicologists say the requirements fall short of what’s needed to fully understand the risks to public health and the environment.

The regulations allow companies to keep proprietary chemicals secret from the public and, in some states, from regulators. Though most of the states require companies to report the volume and concentration of different drilling products, no state asks for the amounts of all the ingredients, a gap that some say is disturbing.

“It’s a shell game,” said Theo Colborn, a toxicologist who has testified before Congress about the dangers of drilling chemicals. Colborn and her organization, TEDX, examine the long-term health risks of chemicals and have opposed the expansion of drilling in Colorado and elsewhere. “They’re not telling you everything that there is to know.”

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October 12, 2011, 2pm Albany. A Tea Party Rally against corporate welfare will be held at 12 noon on the Capitol steps. Stay tuned for details and save the date.

Note: we won in the Appellate Division five to zero.

The name of the case is Bordeleau v. State of New York.

Oral argument will be held at the Court of Appeals, NY’s highest court.

For more information google “pork lawsuit.”

Cohocton Wind Watch is a petitioner in this legal action.

Consumer product companies that want to mark their goods with the new "WindMade" label must source a minimum of 25 percent of their electricity from wind power.

Developers of this first wind certification label hope it will boost company's investment in the industry.

First introduced at the World Economic Forum in Davos this January, the technical standard now enters a two-month public consultation period beginning today and close on August 15.

"The initiative is backed by the wind power industry, and we believe the label will build a bridge between consumers and companies committed to clean energy," says Steve Sawyer, Chairman of the WindMade Board and Secretary General of the Global Wind Energy Council. "We hope to see widespread participation in the public consultation and strongly encourage interested parties to review and comment on the standard."

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A Senate panel amended and sent to the floor a bill to impose an impact fee on natural-gas drilling in Pennsylvania, as members of both parties cited a desire to square off on the politically explosive topic.

The Environmental Resources and Energy Committee voted 11-0 Tuesday to adopt an amendment by committee Chairwoman Sen. Mary Jo White that would revamp the schedule of fees that would be imposed on the commercial drilling proliferating along the lucrative Marcellus Shale formation in northern and western Pennsylvania.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, the sponsor of the original bill, called White's amendment "a good start." He said debate on the legislation could begin as early as next week, while state budget talks between Republican legislative leaders and GOP Gov. Tom Corbett are expected to intensify in the face of a June 30 deadline.

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A U.S. Department of Energy hearing on fracking in Pennsylvania is expected to draw numerous supporters and protesters of the practice Monday night.

Members of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board will be at the meeting on the campus of Washington & Jefferson College in Washington from 7-9 p.m. to garner detail, reaction and comments about hydraulic fracking, or fracking, which breaks up the shale and frees natural gas.

An industry trade group, Energy In Depth, said Friday it would help pro-drilling landowners attend by paying their transportation costs while environmental groups have pledged to be on hand to protest what they claim is a pro-industry bias on the board.

The board is part of a national effort to lower U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

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Some advocacy groups have joined Senate Democrats in calling for a ban on hydraulic fracturing, rather than an extension of the moratorium set to expire at the end of the month.

The Department of Environmental Conservation will issue a report with recommendations about “hydrofracking” in New York at the end of the moratorium. However, groups such as Food & Water Watch and Frack Action claim there have been enough studies across the country to conclude that the practice “threatens essential resources, poisons people and livestock, and erodes the quality of life in rural America.”

Last week, the Assembly passed an extension on the moratorium through June 1 of next year. Speaker Sheldon Silver said this would allow more time to fully digest the findings of the DEC before drilling permits are issued. The Senate is not expected to act on the legislation.