Tom Shepstone
Shepstone Management Company, Inc.

An e-mail exchange between Basil Seggos and his former employer, among others, reveals collusion in how the NY fracking decision went down.

We profiled Basil Seggos, the current New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner and former member of Andrew Cuomo’s executive team, a while back and pointed out his previous employment at the Riverkeeper and his deep connections with the NRDC. He served as Cuomo’s ‘chief environmental advisor” on December 17, 2014, the day of the NY fracking decision, a day that will, as one former New York governor and later President famously said about another event, live in infamy. Thanks to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request made of Governor Cuomo’s office by one of our guest bloggers, we now get an inside view, albeit limited, of how the whole thing went down.

The FOIL request was made by Inge Grafe-Kieklak, President of Landowner Advocates of New York on March 10, 2015, nearly 14 months ago, at the same time similar filings were made with DEC and the Department of Health (DOH). The DEC answered after a period of months, the Governor’s office just answered and DOH has yet to answer. So much for government transparency in the Cuomo Administration.

A review of the FOIL request indicates it was exceptionally thorough, but what was returned in response to it was largely garbage, consisting almost entirely of shared news releases and stories about the NY fracking decision and the reaction to it. Multiple copies of some documents were provided with numerous redactions of internal communications and identities. The redactions were also inconsistent to the point one set of documents included redactions, the duplicate set did not.

Notwithstanding all this, there are things to be learned from the FOIL responses and they aren’t pretty:

First, it is patently obvious material was withheld, as there are numerous cases where only one side of a communication is provided. Here’s an example (the very first piece of correspondence in the FOIL response from the Governor’s Executive Chambers):

David Braun, of course, is a professional fractivist, not only the “New Yorkers Against Fracking lead organizer,” but also Project Director of California-based Rootskeeper, a Gasland grass-roots organizer and a Food & Water Watch pal. He attached a letter from what he described as a group of “New York State scientists and medical professionals” opposing fracking (a list of the usual suspects such as Bamberger, Oswald, Ingraffea, et al, including Carl and Norma Braun, two fractivist physicians with a home at the Rockefeller enclave in Lew Beach, NY). Now, why do you suppose the response to receipt of this is redacted? Well, quite clearly, because it would reveal the collaboration between people such as Beggos or others under his direction and the organizers sent out to stir up opposition to fracking.

The FOIL response also depicts just how seriously this bunch of corrupt politicians takes news coverage and how they work together with special interests to shape the news coverage. Over and over again there appear communications such as this one, from Sean Mahar, then with Audubon New York, sending along a news release supporting the NY fracking decision to Basil Seggos and Peter Walke (then Deputy Secretary and Assistant Secretary for the Environment in the Governor’s Office) almost immediately after it was officially announced:

Notice the “as discussed,” indicating the three of them had coordinated this PR effort. Notice, too, where Sean Mahar is today, according to the most recent DEC organization chart (click for the actual chart):

Yes, Sean Mahar did such a good job, he’s now part of DEC, right up there at the top with his buddies Basil and Peter. This is how it works in the corrupt state of politics that is New York.

There’s also an apparent obsession with Fred Dicker in the Governor’s office, because the FOIL response included transcripts of two of his radio programs that make for hilarious reading; one from the day after the NY fracking decision and another from December 23, 2014. The transcriber of the latter even faithfully records Fred telling his listeners “transcripts of this show are available via the Governor’s Office” and, in the case of the day-after program we read Fred’s opening comment:

There it is the Andrew Cuomo theme song (The Great Pretender).

Imagine the reaction of the individual assigned to transcribe Fred’s remarks as they hear this and think about how they’ll be received when delivered to the higher-ups in the Governor’s office; or the reaction of those higher-ups, including Andrew Cuomo himself (referred to as “GAMC” in the transcripts). If there were any better evidence of just how Nixonian the Cuomo Administration is, I’m not sure what it would be. Fred Dicker has them rattled, apparently.

Then, there is the relationship between Basil Seggos and his former employer, the Riverkeeper.

Alex Matthiessen is the former President of Riverkeeper (Bobby Kennedy, Jr.’s outfit) where Seggos worked, of course. The “well done” language he employs to thank Seggos suggests he credits his former employee for working from the inside to torpedo fracking. Seggos responds with his apparent thanks for the compliment, and well he might, because his ex-boss is now an “eco-political consultant” operating as “The Blue Marble Project.” And, who are their clients? Well, take a look:

The NRDC is everywhere in the background when it comes to the DEC, of course, but the direct relationship to the Governor’s Office is evident from another e-mail, one between Robert Hallman, Seggos’s predecessor as Deputy Secretary for the Environment (only then it was “Energy and the Environment”), and Ashok Gupta of NRDC:

Gupta provided Hallman with what was obviously an unsigned draft petition type letter intended to specifically undermine a compromise floated by the Cuomo Administration in 2012; a compromise that would have permitted fracking in selective counties. Hallman’s apparent response or forwarding of the letter is redacted but, once again, it’s readily apparent what happened. Hallman, it’s worth noting, was Chairman of the New York League of Conservation Voters just prior to his work in the Cuomo Administration and was a member of that infamous hydrofracking advisory committee that went dark immediately upon his elevation to Deputy Secretary in the Governor’s Office.

The League of Conservation Voters, like the NRDC, is a Rockefeller creation and Bobby Kennedy, Jr., NRDC founder John Adams and other NRDC (and closely affiliated Open Space Institute) leaders serve as Directors. The organizations are linked at the hip and it’s, therefore, hardly a surprise Hallman and Gupta would act in cahoots. That they did is further evidenced by the fact the actual letter is dated June 20, 2012, two days later than the draft sent to Hallman.

There’s probably more to be found in the FOIL response, but there’s enough in these few excerpts to clearly show the NRDC, in the persons of Hallman and Seggos, not to mention Joe Martens, has been setting policy and is responsible for the NY fracking decision. It’s no surprise, but it’s revolting, nonetheless, to see just how deep the tentacles of the NRDC gang reach into the inner workings of the State of New York – to the very top.

Add to this the compromised position of Joe Martens (he of the NRDC/OSI revolving door program), the similar conflicts of interests vis-a-vis NRDC employee Katherine “Kit” Kennedy (head of the state attorney general’s environmental protection bureau under Cuomo from 2007 to 2010), Larry Rockefeller’s huge assist to Cuomo’s re-election and so much more and the total domination of state energy and environmental policy by the NRDC is apparent for all to see. Now, will anyone do anything about it? Preet Bharara, so much depends upon you. Are you up the task?