Written by Michael Moran on June 30, 2009 – 12:08 pm
Albany’s Times-Union reports that Business Council of New York State member, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics will move its Green Glue unit from North Dakota to its plant in Granville, Washington County, New York.
The move will result in an expansion of the Granville plant and the addition of seven jobs.
Written by Michael Moran on June 30, 2009 – 11:17 am
Reporter Adam Sichko of Albany’s Business Review reports that 60 Capital Region companies employing approximately 13,000 workers will be harmed by the expiration of the Power for Jobs program.
“Losing this cost-saving program in the middle of a deep recession would be a terrible blow to these businesses,” said Kenneth Adams, president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State Inc., the state’s best-known business lobby, Sichko reports.
Written by Michael Moran on June 30, 2009 – 5:44 am
The Business Council of New York State is urging the state Senate to find a way to come together today to pass the Power for Jobs extension before it sunsets at midnight.
“It is vitally important that the state Senate find a way to come together and extend the Power for Jobs and Energy Cost Savings Benefit Programs before they expire on July 1,” said Kenneth Adams, president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State. “Nearly 600 companies employing more than 300,000 New Yorkers rely on these programs to make their New York operations affordable.”
Gannett News Service also covers the issue today. They write, “In the Power for Jobs program, about 570 businesses and not-for-profit corporations supporting some 330,000 jobs get either a rebate or a discount on electricity rates.
If Power for Jobs expires, businesses will see their power costs spike, according to the state Business Council. The average industrial power cost per hour in New York is already 40 percent higher than in the rest of the country, said Ken Pokalsky, the council’s senior director of government affairs.”
“It’s going to be a huge impact,” he said.
Written by Michael Moran on June 30, 2009 – 5:17 am
When businesses are taxed consumers ultimately pay the price, that is the message in a column by Geoff Colvin in today’s Washington Post.
He writes, “Sometimes what’s politically irresistible is economically nonsensical, as we may soon be reminded. The Obama administration, desperate for revenue and spotting an easy target, is proposing three hefty tax increases on business. If the administration gets its way, the result will be bad news for all Americans.
The first instance of dangerously mixing politics with economics was the administration’s announcement in May that it wanted to “reform our international tax laws” so that they don’t “stack the deck against job creation here on our shores.”
Written by Michael Moran on June 30, 2009 – 5:12 am
By Jennifer Levine
The process of hydraulic fracturing of a horizontally drilled natural gas well requires upwards of a million gallons of water. Serious questions surround the issue of water withdrawal and disposal. The NYS DEC is currently working on regulations specifically addressing these issues and there are numerous other regulatory bodies such as the Delaware River Basin Commission, overseeing the withdrawal and disposal of water in New York State. If anything, there is the possibility of redundancy in the regulations adding extra steps and cost to the production process.
There are many options and opportunities regarding disposal of waste water resulting from a fracked well. Much of the water can be recycled and used on subsequent fracking jobs. Water can hauled to a treatment facility equipped to handle this specific type of waste. Additionally, new technologies are emerging to deal with disposal issue. Allegany Ozone, for example, has developed a process which “consists of using ozone and other patented equipment to separate oil and water portions of the frac water, oxidize the remaining solution, sanitize and filter the water back to reusable condition.” The “portable units can process up to 100,000 gallons a day. Multiple portable units can be used to increase gallons treated on site. Semi-permanent sites can process up to 1,000,000 gallons a day.” http://alleghenyozone.com/frac_water.html. Additionally, Devon Energy has been recognized for its water treatment efforts in the Barnett Shale natural gas play. “Devon Energy uses several Aqua Pure NOMADs, or mobile heated distillation units, to reclaim and recycle contaminated water produced during the natural gas drilling process; The NOMADs, reclaim and recycle about 24 percent of the 3.5 million gallons of water used during the fracing process” http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=8912.
There is enormous incentive for water treatment companies to develop technologies to deal with waste water resulting from hydraulic fracturing. There is a void of treatment options in New York State. This is another huge opportunity associated with the development of the Marcellus Shale which would create jobs and increase revenues for the state while reclaiming our valuable water resource.
Written by Michael Moran on June 29, 2009 – 6:26 am
The crisis New Yorkers are facing from public employee pension costs is detailed in an op-ed by Robert Julian, president of Retirement Planning Consultants.
The piece in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin describes the problem in New York and other states.
Julian writes, A headline in the Ithaca Journal placed a regional spotlight on a growing local, statewide and national problem: “Retirement costs bedevil Dryden schools.”
Written by Michael Moran on June 29, 2009 – 6:00 am
The Times Union of Albany reports on the demands the recession is putting on New York’s unemployment fund. Reporter James Odato describes the pressure to raise benefits.
But, he notes The Business Council’s opposition to current legislative proposals writing, “The Business Council of New York State objects to raising the taxes and the maximums as proposed, although the employers’ group said it would be willing to negotiate. Gov. David Paterson lists the issue as a priority. The leading proposals in the Legislature, the council says, would hurt stable employers as much as those who commonly shed jobs. The proposals would socialize the benefit and raise taxes for unemployment insurance 14.7 percent in year one alone, the group says.”
Written by Michael Moran on June 29, 2009 – 5:55 am
The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports on further delays in the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s study of natural gas drilling.
Reporter Tom Wilber writes, “Those expecting an environmental overhaul of gas drilling regulations necessary to develop the Marcellus Shale - once expected this summer - are in for an indefinite wait.”
Written by Michael Moran on June 26, 2009 – 6:36 am
Gov. David Paterson has signed into law legislation that will make it easier for local government consolidation in New York. This legislation is strongly supported by The Business Council. The more than 10,500 local government entities in New York are a reason for the state’s crushing property tax burden.
Written by Michael Moran on June 26, 2009 – 6:29 am
Business Council President & CEO Kenneth Adams described a reform agenda for an affordable New York in a keynote address to the Brooklyn MetroTech Business Improvement Districts annual meeting.
The agenda includes: a state spending cap; a property tax cap; local government consolidation and public employee pension reform.