AOC’s Green New Deal preview? Lessons from New York's natural gas hell
There is an old story about what hell is like, and it sort of explains New York’s natural gas market.
The story goes that hell is like a kitchen that has pots of delicious stew on the table, with the most delectable appetizing aroma you could possibly imagine. Yet the souls of the damned sit there starving, as they have spoons that can reach into the pot -- but can’t reach the food.
While New York sits atop the Marcellus Shale, with more than 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which equates to more than 85 billion barrels of oil, the state is facing rapidly rising natural gas prices and spot shortages. Thanks to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s ban on horizontal fracking, instead of a flow of cheap, abundant New York homegrown natural gas, the state now faces rising prices.
Instead of being almost independent on gas, they must pipeline in supply from places as far away as Texas.
During the recent polar vortex, New York utilities could not keep the gas on and keep people warm. In a state where they have seen a transition from old-fashioned dirty heating oil, to much cleaner natural gas, the demand is rising faster than supply, freezing out some customers. One state utility, Con Ed, has declared a moratorium on new gas connections and is also raising prices to consumers by a whopping 11 percent in homes that heat with natural gas, and a 6 percent rise for electricity.
And adding even more fuel to the fire is the fact that New York is making it almost impossible to increase supply as the Cuomo administration drags its feet or blocks pipelines. Somehow, the safest transit for oil and natural gas pipelines are getting a bad rap, even though almost all of New York City has pipelines, but they still need more.
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The moral of the story is that environmental extremism is costing the state business, as businesses can’t open without natural gas supply and real estate projects get put on hold. This is also costing the state an untold numbers of jobs, not only in the natural gas and utilities business, but all businesses that can’t operate in the state because of a shortage of natural gas supply.
If this is the damage that environmental extremism can do in just New York, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s, D-N.Y., proposed Green New Deal would surely cause the rest of the country everlasting economic pain. The plan calls for a ban on the use of all fossil fuels from U.S. electricity generation, agriculture and manufacturing by 2030 by spending money we don’t have and paying for it with printed money. Cortez’s plan is really an anti-energy job-killing agenda that would do little to save the planet, while instead working to take away American rights.
They want to ban planes and cars in favor of public transportation. They have a goal to save the planet, but as we all know the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Phil Flynn is senior energy analyst at The PRICE Futures Group and a Fox Business Network contributor. He is one of the world's leading market analysts, providing individual investors, professional traders, and institutions with up-to-the-minute investment and risk management insight into global petroleum, gasoline, and energy markets. His precise and timely forecasts have come to be in great demand by industry and media worldwide and his impressive career goes back almost three decades, gaining attention with his market calls and energetic personality as writer of The Energy Report. You can contact Phil by phone at (888) 264-5665 or by email at pflynn Learn even more on our website at www.pricegroup.com.@pricegroup.com.