Dear Shale Protestor,

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts." 

-- Daniel Patrick Moynihan, United States Senator from New York, 1976-2000

Here are eight facts about New York:

• ·      New York is the #4 largest consumer of natural gas in the country.
• ·      New York consumption is growing because New York City passed a law requiring buildings to stop burning #6 oil by 2015. 
• ·      New York imports 95% of the gas it consumes.  
• ·      New York’s average electricity price is 50% higher than the average electricity price in the United States.
• ·      New York’s gasoline price is the 13^th highest in the nation.
• ·      New York collects 4% to 8.88% individual income tax.  It is a graduated tax based on the amount of income a person makes.  8.88% is the 7^th highest individual income tax rate in the country, which is only surpassed in Hawaii, California, Oregon, Iowa, New Jersey and Vermont.
• ·      New York pays $5-8 billion every year for natural gas to producer states in the Southwest and Canada.
• ·      New York possesses an estimated 20% of the Marcellus shale deposit.

New York is a state with high fuel prices and high taxes that is arguing about whether it will develop its shale.

Here are eight facts about Pennsylvania:

• ·      Pennsylvania imported 75% of its natural gas before it developed the Marcellus.
• ·      Pennsylvania produced 1.3 TCF of natural gas in 2011, about twice the amount that it consumes.  
• ·      Pennsylvania has a budget surplus.  The state just raised its budget from $27.1 billion to $27.6 billion because of the surplus.
• ·      Pennsylvania has 150,000 jobs created from natural gas development.
• ·      Pennsylvania will be the home of the billion-dollar ethane cracker announced by Shell in March 2012 and the attendant petrochemical industry.
• ·      Pennsylvania’s gasoline price is the 32^nd highest in the nation.
• ·      Pennsylvania collects 3% individual income tax.  It is a flat tax.
• ·      Pennsylvania sells natural gas to New York.

Pennsylvania is a state with low fuel prices and low taxes that is developing its shale.

So which state is the better place to live and work?  You can be the judge.  

As for me, I live in New York, but neighboring Pennsylvania looks pretty attractive.  Especially since I'm one of those engineers who worked in the "dirty" petroleum industry "raping" the earth.  I used to think that my job was noble.  I helped the country develop its own petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska at a time when it was dangerously dependent on OPEC.  But since I came to New York, I've been re-educated.  According to liberal arts professors, medical professionals and celebrities, I polluted drinking water, gave children asthma and am forever responsible for toxic chemicals left in the ground to destroy future generations.  Oh brother ...

No doubt, Pennsylvania’s success was not problem-free.  Once the Marcellus was proved, exploration and production companies rushed in causing a land grab and drilling frenzy that Pennsylvania was not prepared for.  (In the company's defense natural gas prices were the highest ever and governments around the world were predicting that the world would run out of everything because of the rise in the global middle class.)  Pennsylvania worked hard to overhaul its regulation.  Now it is a model for other states.   Problems were fixed, and when new ones occur, I am confident that they will be fixed, too, because that's what scientists and engineers do.

So when will New York notice what happened? 

Maybe it just did.

Governor Cuomo floated a proposal yesterday to allow hydraulic fracturing in communities that want it.  Landowning women and men -- representing 800,000 acres and 17,000 families -- rode buses to Albany the day before, and demanded their right to develop the resource that they own.  

You get the picture.  I think the Governor did, too.

Till next Time,

Energy Mom

New York City