Who's next?

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Stacy "The Other" McCain has arrived in New Hampshire to do some political reporting.  We recommend you read his stuff.  

In today's "Greetings from New Hampshire," McCain drops one sentence that should rivet the attention of all Empire State residents.

New Hampshire state legislators are paid just $100 a year, the legislature only meets part-time and there is no state income tax.

Bold added.  As New York's local governments compete to be the first to break Andy Cuomo's tax cap, read that sentence again, amigos.  

Time for a pay cut, Shelly?

Another fracking ban?

Silver, Cuomo

 

Apparently intent on keeping Upstate poor, your New York State Assembly has passed yet another fracking ban.

A bill that would prohibit high-volume hydraulic fracturing until June 1, 2012, won Assembly approval Monday, but its fate in the Senate remains cloudy.  Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said the proposed moratorium would give the state time to assess the risks involved with the process, which involves injecting millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals to break up underground rock formations containing natural gas. 

So why would a dedicated public servant like Shelly Silver want to keep New Yorkers from joining the world wide shale gas boom?  Speaker Silver stands to make a fortune by opposing fracking. 

In January, the New York Post reported:

As Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver leads the fight to block a type of natural-gas drilling in New York, his private law firm is in other states trying to drum up multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the practice, The Post has found.

The speaker's massive Manhattan-based personal-injury law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, plans a pair of public forums this week in Pennsylvania and West Virginia to "listen to the concerns of the community, share information and discuss legal options" about the gas-exploration phenomenon known as "hydrofracking" or "fracking."

When your kids move out of New York to find jobs, be sure to explain why Silver opposes fracking.

Silver has for years refused to detail exactly what he makes and what he does for the firm, even as it plays a key role in the state Trial Lawyers Association, one of Albany's most influential lobbying groups.

Silver refused to address questions about whether Weitz & Luxenberg's anti-drilling advocacy posed a conflict for him.

"The speaker believes hydrofracking poses a major threat to the safety of New York's drinking water," Silver spokeswoman Sisa Moyo said.

Bold added.  We'll see what happens when and if this new ban gets to Andy Cuomo's desk.

Cashing in on NY's fracking ban

On Sunday the NY Post called for the State of New York to lift its moratorium on hydraulic fracturing and let natural gas drilling proceed.  In its pro drilling editorial, the Post points out who is really benefiting from the drilling ban:

Hard-core lefties and environmental groups say the process — which is banned only in New York — contaminates groundwater.

But those claims are refuted by the official state geologist, who calls them “exaggerated” and says he’s found no evidence of such contamination in three years of study.

“This could really help us fight climate change,” said Dr. Langhorne “Taury” Smith, who works for the State Museum, in an interview with an upstate newspaper. “This is a huge gift, this shale.”

On the other hand, the controversy over the shale, he said, has been a gold mine for environmental groups — which have raised funds by alarming folks about the alleged dangers of hydrofracking.The legislative ban, which was passed after lobbying by the Working Families Party and MoveOn, would’ve not only prohibited the horizontal drilling method, but also the vertical one, which has been used for decades without opposition.

MoveOn is financed by George Soros.  George Soros is invested in Brazil's state oil company, Petrobras.  And US taxpayers are lending billions of dollars to Petrobras to finance offshore drilling in Brazil (but South of 5 and 20 readers already know all that - ed).  Barry Obama is in bed with MoveOn.  And while in Brazil this weekend, President Obama took time out from vacationing and starting a war to pledge big US purchases of Petrobras oil.  

If that's not enough reason to start drinking, the Post points out an additional shady character who stands to profit from the drilling ban:

It also had the strong support of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

No surprise there — as The Post first reported in January, Silver’s law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, holds regular “forums” in gas-drilling states, searching for clients interested in suing natural-gas developers.

Bold added.  We suspect that Cuomo and the state employee unions are so desperate for cash that Andy may indeed defy the Soros/Obama/Silver gang and lift the drilling ban.  Get the popcorn ready.