I (Frack) NY? New Yorkers Aren’t Laughing
By Seth Gladstone
Just when you thought the Big Oil and Gas lobby’s slick and aggressive marketing efforts couldn’t get any more absurd, they come out and top even themselves. In a sly reference to New York State’s iconic “I Love NY” tourism promotion campaign, the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York gives us this: a sad attempt at humor (we think) that fails miserably.
Indeed, New York State has long been a mecca for local, domestic and international tourists seeking the plentiful array of wonderful outdoor activities – from skiing in the Catskill Mountains, to apple picking in the Hudson Valley, to waterskiing on the Delaware River – that make the state a truly unique year-round destination. Certainly the thousands of small business owners throughout the state that rely on the tourism industry to make a living value the well-earned reputation New York has garnered as a traveler’s delight.
To think that the oil and gas lobby might attract tourists to New York State with the image of an obtrusive, polluting gas rig dominating the horizon couldn’t be more ridiculous. Their cluelessness – or perhaps their arrogance – must not go unnoticed by the residents and elected officials of New York.
That’s why we’re asking you to join us in letting Governor Cuomo know that we are looking to him to protect New York’s valuable tourist industry from fracking. Urge Governor Cuomo to ban fracking in New York.
Don’t let them frack, or anything else that starts with ‘f’, New York!
I hear the tourism industry is marketing its destinations to the drill workers and their families in Pa.
And wouldn’t it be nice to have a program for future scientists and geologists to tour a well site and see the technology that brings them warmth in the winter and A/C in the summer?
No doubt that we all appreciate heat in the winter and A/C in the summer. But the power required to live our lives comfortably can and must come from renewable resources, or else those summer days are going to be getting a whole lot hotter. And the families of those who will be employed by investment in renewables will be able to take advantage of NY’s wonderful tourism industry too.
Seth – Clueless, man. There’s not enough solar and wind to power manufacturing in the US, let alone the consumer base.
S.E.C., the cost of converting existing nationwide infrastructure to utilize natural gas would be more than $7 billion. That sum would be much better spent converting infrastructure to run on renewables. There is plenty of latent wind and solar power to fuel our energy needs, it’s just a matter of deploying already-proven technologies to do so. This is what we should and must do; we owe it to future generations of New Yorkers.