Tom Shepstone
Shepstone Management Company, Inc.
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Governor Corruptocrat has delivered a permanent New York fracking ban sought by the NRDC gang, but it’s no time to cry about it. No, its time to sue!
Well, it was expected. Andrew Cuomo fulfilled his promise to the NRDC gang that he’d get a permanent New York fracking ban enacted by the legislature. They’re a bunch of lap dogs, Republicans as well as Democrats, so that was an easy promise to keep. It’s also easy for Upstate New Yorkers to throw up their hands and say unkind things about their Emperor, all of which would be true. But, the New York fracking ban presents an opportunity that didn’t exist before; an opportunity to sue on solid legal ground. So stifle your anger, Upstaters, and get to work in court.
No one has less respect for Andrew Cuomo’s governorship than me. I have written tens of thousands of words about the corruption that swirls around the man like a sordid shroud. Yet, I cannot wallow in the despair of throwing up my hands and telling my New York brothers and telling them their life is over, that nothing will get better until Cuomo is gone. It’s unrealistic to suppose a New York State government associated with over a century corruption and dominated by ignorant city voters is ever going to improve with respect to Upstate. It isn’t going to happen.
The one and only answer is for Upstate New Yorkers to move the battle outside of state government into the Federal court system, where there is a now distinct opportunity bloody the noses of those who would bully Upstate out of existence. There is now such an opportunity because the foolish NRDC gang has gotten exactly what they wished for with this New York fracking ban. What was arguably temporary before, as the Rockefellers’ Upstate point ma, Walter Hang, has pointed out relentlessly for the last five years, is now a real New York fracking ban and that is also a real taking, which opens the door to a major Federal lawsuit.
One of the secrets to Andrew Cuomo’s “success,” like the proverbial serpent, has been his ability to lure people into imagining he might be on their side. He did with Williams on the Constitution Pipeline and he did it with upstate landowners on fracking, only to turn around and stick his fangs deeply into the heels of both when it became advantageous to do so. That is his M.O. as they say. But, now, landowners, at least, have a chance to crush the serpent’s head with those heels.
A Federal takings lawsuit is nothing simple, to be sure, but a permanent New York frackinng ban helps tremendously. Previously, it was too easy for a Federal court to dismiss a takings lawsuit in New York because the ban was, theoretically, temporary and only “at this time.” The door was left open enough for the state to plausibly argue nothing had truly been taken as yet. That argument is now out the window because the NRDC gang foolishly requested and Cuomo gave it a permanent New York fracking ban. That door has now been closed but Upstaters, if they have the gumption, can open it in the opposite direction with a Federal takings lawsuit.
Such a lawsuit would best be launched by an organized group of mineral rights owners who do not own the surface rights. These are the property owners who have lost everything as a result of the now permanent New York fracking. They are the perfect plaintiffs. The legislation enacting the ban, moreover, was a budget bill, for crying out loud. There is no justification, no new studies, no new arguments, just the same old baseless assertions. There couldn’t be a better foundation for a Federal lawsuit!
Will such a lawsuit happen? Only if Upstaters stop crying in their beer and whining. Forget about how bad Cuomo is, how messed up the State of New York is, and get organized as mineral rights owners. Hire a skilled set of lawyers and file a lawsuit. Do it now! Get to work giving them both a bloody nose in court. That’s the only thing that was ever going to work and now there is a magnificent opportunity to do it. Fight, now that you’ve been given the means!
Sign me up…. Owner of Mineral Rights Only.
what about us in PA in counties Wayne and Pike we are in the same boat would love to hear what others are thinking. thanks, John
There is a lawsuit already well underway in Federal court against the DRBC.
There is still gas in West Virginia waiting to be leased or bought. We are supportive of fracking here.
Sorry Tom,
Cuomo has proven that he can single handily destroy NY and with his Clintonian connections plus he and his ilk will continue to crash the economy even further to make him a shoe in for the Dem nominee and eventual accession to POTUS. Therefore he will be ushering in extreme versions of FDR’s socialistic policies that are very popular with millennials and zoomers plus those who reside in communities like “Planet Ithaca”.
Promises of banning fracking nationwide will also be accepted with Mussolini-like fanfare married to releasing mass amounts of convicts to act as mercenaries to help Purge those who are older and may vote for independent and Conservative candidates.
Remember, you can’t vote if you are dead, unless you are a Democrat!!!
I wouldn’t sue. The value of our mineral rights in the national market has fallen so low that oil and gas companies face bankruptcy. Hold your rights for your grandchildren. The last thing that I want is Cuomo to own all our mineral rights for a song, then have him open up state drilling to use the proceeds to fund NYC programs, with not a penny coming to us. Instead, form family trusts to keep these important rights in your families. When wind and solar collapse from lack of government subsidies (and that will come), then you and your families will have the last financial laugh.
I get that this is a pep talk, but don’t care for the pointed critcisms of NY landowners in last paragraph.
We WERE far better organized than any other regional state’s minerals owners back in 07-08 and thereafter. Then Paterson pulled the plug and Cuomo over a decade put the last excruciating nails in the coffin- which is the only thing he’s good at.
This permanent ban just happened. Lawyers sure as hell don’t work for free and a case of this magnitude will be big $$$, with at least half a decade to see a dime best case- assuming the horror of a Dem in the White House doesn’t happen. Plus most of us own surface rights also. Not sure what the collective appetite is for more potential regulatory abuse…
This is Cuomo at his Machiavellian best. He puts the permanent ban in place, satisfying his base, but inviting a takings suit. If the suit is successful, his hands are clean, his base is infuriated but New York gets home grown natural gas, and all the taxes and benefits that accrue therefrom. Win-Win for Cuomo and the State of New York.
The other Win win for him is to have Indian Tribes to buy the land (at a low price), call it sovereign territory and then extract the gas via the state getting a cut to pay off the state budget deficit. He already did a similar “deal” with the oneidas regarding their land claim by thumbing his nose on the “Sherrill” Decision and allowed the tribe to expand its gaming and gas station operations in Madison and Oneida Counties. Local regulations are not required to be adheard to.
Since these properties cannot be regulated by the DEC, it would pit the Indians against the anti-frackers that oppose any drilling. The tribes would only have to comply with USEPA regulations and therefore return their own nose thumbing to the antifracking base. Cuomo would have his hands clean saying that he tried but that’s “their land”….while skimming off the profits.
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