The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Reader Don sends this DEC spill report [pdf] which documents a 1,143 gallon petroleum product spill at a Chesapeake well near Pulteney. The spill, which was apparently caused by a rusted-through holding tank, occurred last August and hasn't been cleaned up, according to the DEC report. The report was part of a letter sent by Walter Hang, who runs the hazardous waste tracking site Toxics Targeting, to the state DEC.

This could be just a bookkeeping issue, or it could be something more serious, but it's another example of how Chesapeake's actions are getting the utmost scrutiny by local activists.

Reader David sends Tom Reed's weekly video. In it, Reed sets out his position on hydrofracking. Reed wants tough regulation, a lifetime ban on drillers that violate environmental regulations, he opposes storage of wastewater in wells, and he would like to see communities get involved with the recycling/treatment of hydrofracking fluid.

Reed's position is pretty sensible, and I don't see a whole lot of light between him and Massa in the big picture. One issue that Massa has raised and Reed didn't address is royalties. New York's mandated royalties are quite low, according to Massa.

Reed's video is embedded after the break:

An anonymous reader sent the text of a full-page ad in today's Corning Leader, paid for by Chesapeake Energy. It's essentially a declaration of war against Eric Massa, indirectly accusing him of misrepresenting the situation and using "political rhetoric". I've included the whole thing after the break, but one claim merits closer inspection.

Chesapeake says that "Congressman Eric Massa was informed on February 2, 2010 [...] that we are no longer actively pursuing our permit request [...] We have since followed up ad that commitment an have formally withdrawn our permit application for it." [emphasis in original]

Here's what Chesapeake actually said in that letter: "[...] it is premature for us to pull the application at this time." There was no commitment in the February 2 letter.

Chesapeake says that it is "disappointing that our positions continue to be misrepresented" -- apparently they're disappointed with themselves, because they misrepresented their own letter, written less than three weeks ago.

Here's the whole letter:

Today's Corning Leader quotes Eric Massa and Tom Reed on the stimulus. Reed says the stimulus "failed", was a "mistake" and "didn't work".

There are many reasons to oppose the stimulus, but saying that it was a failure just flies in the face of reality. The economy, and the jobs picture, is better today than it was a year ago, and the stimulus has created jobs. Whether the short-term benefit was worth the cost is certainly worth discussing, but a reasonable discussion has to begin with the facts, not ungrounded assertions of failure.

Reader qka (not to be confused with reader "keuka") sends Assemblyman Jim Bacalles' response to qka's constituent letter. Qka asked if Bacalles would support a bill to extend the protections given New York City's water supply to the rest of the state. Bacalles' response, which addresses the Pulteney disposal site rather than the broader question, is attached after the break.

I've only seen Bacalles in action once, at the 2006 League of Women Voters debate. He clearly took his lead from George Winner at that event, and he tends to keep a low media profile. For example, today's Corning Leader story on Chesapeake only quotes George Winner and Eric Massa.

Here's the letter:

Reader Groundhum's recent comment linked to the Star-Gazette's story on Chesapeake's application withdrawal. That story contains Chesapeake's letter to the DEC, and one paragraph illustrates how poorly Chesapeake continues to handle this whole mess:

We are not rescinding the application because we believe our proposed well would have been a threat to the environment or because of vocal opposition to the project. Quite the contrary, the well in question is an existing gas production well that has been in service since 1988, and it is part of a gas field in this area of the Finger Lakes region that has produced for decades with no effect on the environment.

First, the notion that public pressure had nothing to do with the application withdrawal is laughable. On February 2, Chesapeake told Eric Massa that they were not withdrawing the application. Two weeks later, the application is history. The only thing that happened in between was a series of highly-publicized meetings about Chesapeake's application.

More importantly, contrasting the safety of existing gas wells with the proposed use of the well as a wastewater dump is completely misleading. Chesapeake wanted to dump thousands of gallons of chemical-laden brine down one of the Finger Lakes gas wells that's less than a mile from Keuka lake. That's an entirely different proposition from taking gas out of that well.

The safety of existing Finger Lakes wells is also irrelevant to Chesapeake's desire to drill in the Marcellus Shale. Those old wells used traditional drilling techniques. Extracting gas from the Marcellus Shale will require the high-pressure injection of thousands of gallons of chemical-laden brine. The risks involved aren't the same, and Chesapeake knows it.

Chesapeake has shown nothing but arrogance and a desire to mislead throughout this controversy. Being one of Chesapeake's allies in the Southern Tier is pure political poison.

The Corning Leader reports that Chesapeake Energy withdrew its application for a permit to dispose of wastewater in an abandoned well near Pulteney. The withdrawal happened this morning, and contradicts Chesapeake's earlier position expressed in a February 2 letter to Eric Massa.

CQ's New York Congressional race story details how Republicans have Congressional primaries all over the state, except for two districts, including the 29th. The two districts that had the tightest 2008 races, the 24th and 29th, have a single Republican candidate.

Reader Groundhum sends this video of the entire Pulteney meeting. It's really well done -- it has a bookmark section so you can find each of the speakers.

Groundhum also sends a link to this Arizona Star article which is a AP story about hydrofracking pollution in Pennsylvania. The last fracking story in the Democrat and Chronicle was three weeks ago.

You are now reading the Fighting29th on a new server. You'll find the electrons much fresher here.

If you see any problems, drop me an email, or throw in a comment.