Dear Governor Cuomo – There Is Danger in Delay!
Neil Vitale
Steuben County organic dairy farmer
Steuben County Land Owners Coalition
New York State landowners are, to quote a popular movie line, “mad as hell and not taking it anymore.” Here is the first of many letters we hope to offer as examples of the deep frustration felt in the Southern Tier.
I recently wrote a letter to our Governor as a fellow New Yorker who is proud of his Italian heritage. Those of you sufficiently moved by one my letter and others I’m sure will follow should write your own and submit them to the Governor using this link. Here, after the jump, is my letter. Warning for those of you who speak Italian; come la cosa indugia, piglia vizio.
Governor Andrew Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224Governor Cuomo,
As you may or may not know, I have written to you many times on the benefits of horizontal drilling and high volume-hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale Formation. I have neither received a written response to any of my letters, nor a response through action. This time, I am attempting a different approach in hope of a response.
I have noticed that both of us share a common heritage. Both of our paternal grandparents hailed from the same region of Italy, both of us were named after our paternal grandfathers, and both of us have established lives that our grandparents would be proud of. Therefore, in this letter, I will use the expressions of our grandparents to articulate my feelings on the very important issue of hydraulic fracturing.
I am always disturbed by the influence that the anti-fossil fuel movement, spear-headed by a few Hollywood elitist zealots, seems to have over Albany. A phrase that my grandfather would have used to describe this very situation is “Guardatevi dai falsi profeti” (“Beware of false prophets”).
The phrase, “Come la cosa indugia, piglia vizio” (There is danger in delay) is also applicable. Indeed, this expression from our grandparents really nails this issue. How much revenue has New York lost for education, pension funds, and infrastructural repairs while Albany delays a response to the hydraulic fracturing issue?
Two more phrases, one we use often on the farm are; “Chi ha fatto il male, faccia la penitenza.” (“You reap what you sow”) and “I topi abbandonano la nave che affonda. (“Rats desert a sinking ship”) describe Albany’s indecision. Your favorable poll numbers will continue to fall as more New York cities and towns become insolvent.
We just have to visit Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Dakota, and twenty-eight other states that are allowing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to take place, to see the prosperity this technology brings.
Governor Cuomo, lift the moratorium. “Perdere il totto per l’ambiadurs” (“Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg”). Mr. Governor, New York continues to wait for your decision on this very important issue.
Sincerely,
Neil C. Vitale
Joint Landowners Coalition of New York
Steuben County Land Owner Coalition of New York
Now, get busy and write your own letter!
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can you hear me now ????
Mr. Vitale and many others have expressed their frustrations very well as they deal daily with sights and accounts of a sorry lifestyle lived in a resource rich region. Where’s the logic? The Southern Tier’s decline (and in my region Allegany and Cattaraugus counties are included in the Southern Tier) has been on-going for decades …since all matter of industries faded from NY’s stage. How sad for the population that stayed behind and was left with greater need, and more help from gov’t “programs” for which they had to pay more taxes. They’ve been ” helped” all the way to the poorhouse!
The cautious nature regarding “drilling” in NY is purported to be for safety’s sake . Who or what is more worried … environmentalists who understand a fraction of nature’s bounty (water, gas, oil, air) or politicians who are looking @ the next election. Don’t forget oil and natural gas concerns that are watching their industries decline (whether in other shale plays in the U.S. or abroad). How much do theses entities want NY to succeed in the development and production of its own natural resources?
Need a white knight or two? Just wait . Close in on an election year and see the apple-polishing begin. Wait for another Hurricane Sandy, days of frightfully cold blizzard conditions, and/or a farm blight. How sad must NY’s economy get before the chains come off the gas/oil industries?
I believe in the development of “green energy” too, but in NY the sun doesn’t shine every day and the winds don’t blow every day … except around Albany! It’s time to drill all along the NY/PA border clear to Lake Erie. Tight lease language, modern drilling industry techniques, and skilled workers CAN allow Christmas to actually come to New York, but when?
Neil, wonderful approach, well said! Unfortunately I don’t believe any of our letters are being addressed let alone read. Pretty sure we are being heard? Herein lies the problem, for the most part we as landowners, farmer’s, (trade) workers are a quiet bunch! Probably because of the way we were brought up to respect fellow man, but mostly because we work 40–120 hours a week and then some. In turn we are blessed with a wonderful family life, but we are tired to tired to put up with this constant nonsense! The nimby obstructionists have all Day to scream and stir the pot, as most don’t work and unfortunately we probably pay their way way through life! Looking back I think we should have approached this in a different fashion. Maybe we should have screamed louder, made threats pointed at our governor, disrupt every meeting /town boards with civil disobedience, look and act like complete idiots, smell like “whatever “last but not least (live in lala land)!!! Sorry I do not apologize for the above a duck is a duck….. Neil on the other hand I am very proud of the way we conduct ourselves in a very respectable, (common sense) way of life . That my friend will not change!!! We will not and can not stoop to their level! Again Governor Cuomo is not a stupid person pretty certain he sees through all the “smoke “……