New York Governor Cuomo ‘Orders Utility to Pump Imaginary Natural Gas’: Nonsensical Demand is Granted by Utility with a Warning That a Cold Snap Could Lead to Heat Shut-off For Those at the Far Ends of Pipeline System as Pressure Drop
Had to keep the original Hot Air headline for this one. Cuomo has been adamant in his authoritarian control of natural gas access for New York state, New York City, and New England (pipelines recommended and planned for New England states need to go through New York), and his moratorium against fracking in New York state, which has been in force for a decade now. Cuomo has bowed to pressure from environmental activists. I have written about Cuomo’s authoritarianism before as have others, including energy writer and author Robert Bryce.
Utility National Grid had previously refused any new natural gas hook-ups in Brooklyn due to inadequate gas supply. This involves over 1100 new residential and commercial customers. Cuomo used an obscure law to demand that those customers be hooked up anyway or the utility would face hefty fines. They grudgingly agreed. He actually accused National Grid of “acting in bad faith.” The utility stated that they had a responsibility to provide reliable service, which now cannot be guaranteed. Cuomo has cited state environmental reviews for denying permits for the Williams pipeline and other pipelines.
Quoted from the Hot Air article referenced below:
“Does this guy understand what he’s asking for here? We’re also left wondering if he understands why the utility stopped authorizing new gas lines in the first place. Does he think that National Grid was simply tired of making money? Obviously they want to sign up new customers so they can begin billing them.”
“There’s a solution to this problem right in front of the governor if he has the common sense to see it. Your problem isn’t the management at the utility. It’s the lack of natural gas supplies running into Brooklyn. Approving the new pipeline would fix this because there is a virtually limitless supply of gas waiting for you in Pennsylvania.”
The availability of cheap natural gas nearby has enabled New York City to decrease its contributions to both air pollution and carbon emissions by switching fuel oil furnaces for natural gas. Fuel oil furnaces emit more carbon dioxide and other pollutants including 2.5 particulate matter. But if I were on the ends of that system, I might consider an oil furnace.
Energy writer Robert Bryce of the Manhattan Institute has written previously about Cuomo’s “wars” against natural gas, utilities, pipelines, and non-renewable energy. A five-hour electricity blackout in Manhattan in September was blamed on equipment malfunction. Cuomo blasted the utility, Con Edison, as failing to provide electricity reliability. With the planned closure over the next year or so of the 2000+ MW Indian Point nuclear plant, the New York Independent System Operator that manages the grid has been warning about future electricity reliability. That plant provides about ¼ of the electricity to NYC. It is unclear what Cuomo plans to do. Bryce also points out that since 2004 natural gas on the grid of the whole state has doubled and will likely need to increase further after the nuclear plant closure. Cuomo has agreed to implement the Climate and Community Protection Act which mandates that 70% of electricity will come from renewable sources by 2030 but it is unclear how that will happen. New offshore wind projects are one source. One thing is virtually certain. Electricity prices in New York will rise, probably drastically. New Yorkers already pay among the highest energy costs in the U.S. Bryce also notes that the plan to electrify all the states vehicles will put a strain on global supplies of lithium, cobalt, and rare earths - just to do it for New York state. He notes a UK study that concludes that “society needs to understand that there is a raw-material cost of going green.” Of course, most aggressive state energy mandates towards renewables and carbon free energy suffer from the same issues. Its easy to set up and announce targets to get political points but not so easy to implement them. Cuomo won’t be governor when these mandates actually go into an implementation stage.
It is not only New York City that has blocks on natural gas hook-ups. Towns in Massachusetts have been beset by such blocks since 2014, again due to inadequate natural gas supplies, in turn due to lack of pipelines, in turn due to Cuomo’s and his environmental activist advisors’ authoritarian rejections. This affects energy costs in those areas as well as pollution, carbon emissions, and reliability. Cuomo has been the guy “holding the cards” for quite a while now and it will be interesting to see how this turns out.
Cuomo is not the only Democrat governor actively working against natural gas pipelines for climate change reasons. New Jersey governor Phil Murphy recently denied a permit for the PennEast pipeline. The official reason given had to do with a dispute about eminent domain that a federal appeals court ruled on saying that land could not be seized. However, Murphy is quoted:
“My administration fought and won in court to stop the proposed … pipeline. We are committed to transition New Jersey to 100% clean energy by 2050.”
If I understand correctly the properties in dispute for eminent domain are owned or partially owned by the state. PennEast states that they are confident that eventually they will get a favorable ruling, citing a long-standing precedent of the FERC. If the project delay is long continued, I suspect eventually we will hear about more moratoriums on natural gas hook-ups for residents and businesses and an increase in the use of polluting and expensive fuel oil.
The two governors are quite willing to cause the increase of pollution and carbon emissions in the short term in order to have a chance (as they see it) to decrease them in the long-term, although it is quite unclear how that will happen.
References:
Cuomo Orders Utility to Pump Imaginary Natural Gas – by Jazz Shaw, in Hot Air, Oct. 12, 2019
Cuomo’s War on Pipelines Hurts New England – by Robert Bryce, Manhattan Institute, July 19, 2019
Cuomo’s War on the Power Grid – by Robert Bryce, in Crain’s New York Business, July 18, 2019
Cuomo’s Silly War on Natural Gas – by Robert Bryce, Manhattan Institute, June 28, 2019
Out of Gas: New York’s Blocked Pipelines Will Hurt Northeast Consumers – by Robert Bryce, Manhattan Institute, June 25, 2019
New Jersey Denies Permit for PennEast Natgas Pipeline – by Reuters, accessed through Hart Energy, Oct. 16, 2019
