Hudson A. Wilkin writes in a letter to the editor on Pressconnects.com - “The New York state Department of Conservation must allow the natural gas companies to use hydraulic fracturing to obtain the natural gas. Everything mankind has ever done has had both benefits and risks, and this time the benefits outweigh the risks. The DEC and those who are against hydrofracking want to have a 100 percent risk-free situation before they will allow the use of hydrofracking, which is impossible.

If the DEC allows hydrofracking, natural gas companies will hire hundreds of employees, who will spend their income in New York. The services that these people and their families will use, and the goods they will buy, will require other businesses to hire more people so they can meet increased demand for their products and services. With the increase in sales, more sales tax money will be collected by villages, cities, towns, counties and the state, which will reduce the amount of property and income taxes that have to be paid.

These newly employed people will be paying village, city, town, county, school, property, state and federal taxes; since more people are paying taxes, the burden is more spread out, and each taxpayer will be required to pay a smaller portion of the total taxes owed each year.”

To read more click here.

As reported in pressconnects.com, Chesapeake Energy is paying to upgrade roadways in Bradford County, PA, to accommodate for increased heavy truck traffic resulting from its drilling activities in the Marcellus Shale. The upgrade will not only benefit Chesapeake’s operations but the surrounding community as well. The drilling companies want to be good neighbors. They plan to work and live in the Marcellus region for decades to come. It is in their best interest to reach out to Marcellus communities to make improvements to infrastructure. This is another example of how the entire region will benefit from development of the Marcellus Shale.

All through the Gulf oil spill disaster opponents to drilling in the Marcellus Shale have drawn parallels between that horrible event and the similar disaster that would befall New Yorkers should drilling be allowed in our state. Drilling for oil off the US coast a mile above the ocean floor is a different operation than drilling for natural gas on land but drilling opponents like to link the two in another attempt to scare New Yorkers and sway leaders.

There is one area however, where these two drilling operations are similar. That is the understanding that a moratorium will dramatically hurt drilling and has a long term effect on jobs in the region. The Obama administration is considering lifting the six month ban that they hastily placed on off shore drilling because they have learned that these giant and very expensive rigs don’t sit idle when not in use. Companies are moving the rigs to other parts of the world and the jobs are going with them. This is severely hurting Gulf States and will have an impact for years to come. Similarly, the moratorium on drilling in the Marcellus Shale forces drillers to plan for their rigs to be used in friendlier states. There are a finite number of rigs in the US and they are always in use. Rig plans are done many months or even years in advance of drilling. A moratorium on shale drilling in New York doesn’t just put off business for nine months it could push drilling out for years and significantly postpone the resulting economic boost that development of the Marcellus Shale will provide.

TimeWarner Cable YNN reporter Steve Ference looks at the cost of hiring employees in New York and the attitudes found in The Business Council of New York State’s member survey on the business climate.

To watch his report click here.

A midnight vote by the State Senate has passed a measure that would place a moratorium on hydrofracking for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale formation for 11 months.

The 48 yes votes included 15 Republicans, among them Hudson Valley Senators John Bonacic of Mount Hope and Stephen Saland of Poughkeepsie.

Midhudsonnews.com reports - “Ulster County Legislator Susan Zimet, who was among the leaders of a statewide effort to have the moratorium approved, said the bill was “DOA three weeks ago until our press conference.” Among the participants who urged the 11 month delay were folk singer Pete Seeger of Beacon and actor Mark Ruffalo of Sullivan County.

The State Assembly is expected to take up the bill in September.

Opponents of hydrofracking say the process of pumping chemicals under intense pressure into the shale formation would contaminate drinking water supplies, including the New York City system in the Catskills.

On a related note, a company that had planned on drilling in neighboring areas of Pennsylvania is pulling out. Cabot Oil & Gas reportedly is not willing to wait out a Delaware River Basin Commission moratorium on drilling until a study into the impact on the Delaware watershed is finished.

The Times Union reports today - “A giant Malaysian gaming and resort entertainment firm with worldwide clout is in line to turn over $380 million to the state and gain the rights to build and operate the long-delayed video slots parlor at the state’s Aqueduct Race Track in Queens.

The state Lottery Division on Tuesday recommended the gaming consortium Genting New York LLC to develop a 4,525-machine video lottery terminal facility that is expected to feed hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the state and tens of millions a year to the cash-starved New York Racing Association, which runs the state’s three horse tracks.”

To read more click here.

Adam Sichko of The Business Review writes about new rules that could limit home building in suburban areas and further hurt New York’s struggling economy.

“Developers and builders are bracing themselves for new legislation aimed at squashing suburban sprawl—with some fearing that it could limit what they build and slow down projects.

The bill, which sailed through the Legislature last month, requires state agencies to prioritize infrastructure funding to only projects that meet what are called “smart growth” principles.

The idea is to drive mixed-use development in areas that already have roads, power lines, sewers and water pipes in place.”

To read more click here.

It is critical that the legislature adopt a new, statewide economic development power program in the 2010 session.

The Power for Jobs and the Energy Cost Savings Benefit programs expired on June 2, 2010, leaving several hundred energy-intensive businesses facing higher costs and uncertainty regarding future power supply and prices.

Kenneth Adams, President & CEO of The Business Council of New York State, Inc. stated, “New York needs a permanent economic development power program now. Competitively priced power is crucial for employers and workers across New York, and particularly for upstate manufacturers. We support legislation that has already passed the Senate with broad, bipartisan support, and deserves broad Assembly support as well. A permanent power program will support hundreds of energy-intensive businesses and tens of thousands of high paying jobs.”

We strongly support Assembly approval of S.8065, which has already passed the Senate with broad, bipartisan support (vote of 59 to 2).

This legislation includes key provisions necessary to support high paying jobs and promote new capital and energy efficiency investments, resulting in significant economic returns to the state. These include:

• A new, permanent program to replace the Power for Jobs and Economic Development Power programs that will provide predictability and certainty for program participants.
• A 910 MW program that will give the state more economic development power resources than are available under expiring programs, that can accommodate new program participants statewide.
• Allocation-based power benefits and long-term contracts of up to seven years that will provide competitive, stable electric power prices to energy intensive businesses.
• Eligibility criteria that assure significant, long-term economic return to the state, including the number and value (wages and benefits) of jobs created and retained, investments in capital equipment and energy efficiency, the significance of energy costs to a business’ competitiveness, and the local economic significance of the facility.

To read more click here.

In response to Governor Paterson’s announcement that he is calling the Legislature back to address unfinished business, statewide business groups have joined together in urging the Assembly to immediately take up and pass Energize New York. Energize New York, a long term fully sustainable energy economic development power program bill, has been endorsed by the Administration, and previously passed the Senate this session with overwhelming support. To date, Assembly leadership has refused to bring the critical bill to the floor for a vote.

This issue has risen in urgency with the already expired short term Power for Jobs, Energy Cost Savings benefits and High Load Factor Programs that were discontinued over a month ago. If the current programs expire without a long term solution passed, businesses statewide will be heavily impacted, seeing an immediate sharp rise in their electricity costs, already some of the highest in the nation. If not addressed immediately, a lapse in energy benefits, coupled with the high costs of doing business in New York State and our current economic crisis will cause catastrophic results to the state’s economy, including employee layoffs, downsizing, relocation and potential closings.

Energize New York has already received praise and overwhelming support from businesses and economic development organizations statewide. Supporters understand that a long term program will assist New York State in weaving through this current economic crisis by supporting jobs and critical businesses that sustain our economy, produce vast economic benefits to the State, allow businesses to make long term investments, and make New York State more competitive in retaining businesses to open or relocate to our State. The Energize New York bill also contains substantial retroactive language, meaning businesses would be held harmless for any high costs of electricity they may encounter during the current lapse in the preexisting short term Power for Jobs programs.

Of additional importance, the Energize New York bill has received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate, passing with a vote of 59-2, with cosponsors Senator Aubertine (D-Cape Vincent) and Senator Maziarz (R-Newfane) leading the charge. The Administration also publicly endorses Energize New York. Governor Paterson made this point known when he released his list of unfinished and important items to be addressed this week, and included Energize New York as one of these issues.

To read more click  statewide-to-assembly-pass-energize-ny-07-27-2010

Buffalo Business First has just released a new study on the manufacturing sector in Buffalo Metro area. The report compares the loss of job in this sector to job losses in other Metros across the country.

“A new Business First study shows that the Buffalo area has lost 35,600 manufacturing jobs in the past 10 years.
That means, on average, that 300 manufacturing jobs are disappearing from Erie and Niagara County every week — roughly 10 every day.

We’re not alone, of course. Ninety-eight of the nation’s 100 biggest markets have fewer manufacturing jobs now than they did a decade ago. Six have lost more than 100,000 positions.

The database below has the complete breakdowns for all 100 of those metros. You can sort the list by any column just by clicking the appropriate header.

To read more: Manufacturing jobs keep slipping away - Business First of Buffalo click here.