Via NY Post:
Gov. Cuomo keeps blocking natural-gas pipelines in New York, supposedly because they might taint rivers and streams. But a new report flags the real reason: The mere use of natural gas is too much for enviro-radicals.
The study, by Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy for the group Earthworks, argues that OK’ing new or upgraded pipelines and other infrastructure will let gas consumption increase — and thereby boost emissions of CO2 and methane, making it impossible to meet Cuomo’s goal to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
The study looks at new gas projects, which it figures would add up to 31 million tons a year in emissions. That would put “the state’s 2030 goal . . . virtually out of reach,” says co-author Elena Krieger.
Cuomo’s goal for 2030 is to trim NY emissions to 40 percent below their 1990 level. To do that, he’s pushed renewable energy, like solar and wind — but also says switching from oil and coal to (cleaner) natural gas is critical. “I think in all probability you need natural gas,” he said last year.
He’s right: New York has already cut emissions to 13 percent below 1990 levels, mainly by substituting gas for oil and coal. Gas supplies from Pennsylvania alone jumped sevenfold from 2007 to 2016. (New York can’t tap its own vast stores of natural gas, thanks to Cuomo’s fracking ban.)
Yet the green extremists want more: “Cuomo can either work to achieve his climate commitments or support new natural-gas infrastructure, not both,” insists Earthworks’ Nadia Steinzor.