Frackers Get Sneak Peak at Rules They Wrote

Cuomo has given the frackers a sneak peak at the proposed fracking rules for New York. Probably because that’s what he got paid to do. The DEC’s regulations are drafted by gas industry lobbyist, the proposed rules are vetted by gas industry lobbyist, and before the permits are issued, the Cuomo administration asks the lobbyists if the proposed regulations are OK by them.  And the lobbyist they most often talk to is Tom West, Chesapeake Energy’s lobbyist, who was the losing lawyer in both the Dryden and Middlefield  gas well  zoning lawsuits – but he gives the DEC advice on gas well zoning.

http://www.ewg.org/report/inside-track-cuomo-team-gave-drillers-edge-influence-fracking-rules

And it’s frankly not much of a surprise – because the fracking lobbyist basically have been writing New York’s fracking regulations since at least 2005. The industry wrote most of the SGEIS, as evidenced by the flaws in every section – as if most of it was lifted from gas industry brochures – because much of it was taken in whole cloth from the industry via their lobbyists. 

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=DSGEIS_Responses

The actual rules and regulations are virtually unchanged from the first SGEIS draft, because the SGEIS never addressed the few rules and regulations New York has for gas wells, which are the worst in the US,  just the way Chesapeake wanted it.  You are  the way of getting the gas out of the ground, into a pipeline and onto a tanker bound for China.  That’s the Shale Game, global view.  If Chesapeake completes its sale to the Chinese, then Chesapeake’s lobbyist, who has been writing New York’s gas regs. for years, will be working for the Chinese: 

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90778/7854914.html

You are in the fracker’s way.  Your road use laws are in the way of the frackers.  Your land use ordinances. Your house is too close to their gas wells. Your water well is too close to their gas wells. There is no other way to interpret the New York regulations. You are in the way. The rules and regulations in New York show. New York City’s watershed is protected. The rest of Upstate is a shooting gallery. 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/72545747/Worst-Fracking-Regs

This also explains why New York is the only state without a state tax on oil and gas production – because the frackers don’t want to pay a nickel to New York State. And they pay good money to the state senators to keep it that way. 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/63145742/New-York-State-Gas-Production-Tax

So before the permits are issued, Cuomo is asking the fracking lobbyists:“Did we get the wording right ?”

The state’s 2005 Compulsory Integration law was written by lobbyist Tom West for his client Chesapeake (China). The wording was refined in a series of memos with legislative staff.  The result is the worst compulsory integration law – as practiced by the DEC – in the USA.  West knows he stands little chance of getting the Dryden or Middlefield rulings overturned. So he’s back to writing laws surreptitiously in Albany, his forte (obviously not land use law). Bill Fischer pointed this out regarded West’s authorship of the 2005 Compulsory Integration law – Chesapeake has been writing the fracking laws in New York for at least the last 7 years:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/74790533/Compulsory-Integration-in-New-York

Some of the fractavists have been aware of this chicanery for some time; this from Bruce Ferguson: 

Tom West has been shaping gas extraction policy in NYS for years.  On his website he claims to have had a major hand in writing the 2005 compulsory integration law, and I don’t think he’s exaggerating. Here are the communications between the West law firm and the DEC re: the ’05 CI law and the 2008 well spacing bill.  http://catskillcitizens.org/learnmore/WESTDEC.pdf  The CI bill, written by lobbyists, sailed through both Assembly and the Senate in three weeks with unanimous approval. 

http://williamahuston.blogspot.com/2011/12/did-greg-sovas-commit-perjury-in.html

So the DEC staff are basically sharing the drafts with their prospective employers – Chesapeake /China – who they are supposed to be “regulating”. 

Documents courtesy of the Environmental Working Group: 

http://www.ewg.org/report/inside-track-cuomo-team-gave-drillers-edge-influence-fracking-rules

foil requests
http://static.ewg.org/reports/2012/insidettrack/EWG_FOIL_Requests.pdf

foil appeals
http://static.ewg.org/reports/2012/insidettrack/WG_FOIL_Appeals.pdf

DEC documents
http://static.ewg.org/reports/2012/insidettrack/DECFOILDOCS.pdf

Exec documents
http://static.ewg.org/reports/2012/insidettrack/EXECFOILDOCS.pdf

Full report: http://www.ewg.org/report/inside-track-cuomo-team-gave-drillers-edge-influence-fracking-rules

As reported in the Times Union . . . 

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Advance-industry-look-at-state-hydrofrack-rules-3667935.php