Open Letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg About Fracking
By Stephen Heins, 2019, The Practical Environmentalist of WIsconsin
Open Letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg About Fracking
By Stephen Heins, 2019
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on April 8th, 2015, the headline read "Bloomberg Criticizes New York Fracking Ban.' The interview went on to say that you announced that you was donating $30 million to the Sierra's “anti-coal" campaign, but that you had made special provisions that none of your donated money would go to the Sierra Club's parallel anti-natural gas campaign.
In 2019, you announced that had donated $500 million to end all fossil fuels.
Back in 2015, you took other unpopular stands like the Keystone Pipeline.
Your stand on fracking and natural gas didn’t align with the environmental narrative being advocated by groups likeThe Sierra Club, the NRDC, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and many other national, regional and local environmental groups.
It is noteworthy that none of the media sources or environmental groups had mentioned your stance on fracking and natural gas back in 2016... Zero, none, nada.
Anyway, as a business magnate, former New York City Mayor, and politician turned philanthropist you joined environmental groups at a Sierra Club national news conference, also on April 8, 2015, to announce your efforts to strengthen the Club's “Beyond Coal" campaign. The goal is to have "fewer coal plants" in the US in fewer years.
Then, 4 years later, you donated $1/2 Billion to close all power plants, including all Natural Gas power plants. To this date, You have never explained why you had changed your mind.
Unsurprisingly, back in 2015, his anti-coal storyline and its many headlines--National Journal, Politico, Bloomberg, New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Rolling Stone, Climate Progress, Huffington Post, Time Magazine, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Real Clean Energy, Associated Press, and Sun Times were almost sycophantic, WITHOUT EVER MENTIONING HIS PRO-FRACKING POSITION’
At that time, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said, "Our goal overall is to move beyond coal, and gas and get to 100 percent clean energy. We think it’s possible to have zero carbon in the energy sector by 2030, which means NO COAL AND NO GAS." (Caps mine)
It wasn’t surprisingly that there has never been another mention of Your pro_fracking comments’ Even three weeks later and still no mention of Bloomberg's fracking comments in any of the other major news or environmental sources.
At that time, you favored natural gas "because there is no
viable alternative to coal-fired electricity without gas." In another equally important story line, you criticized the New York state's ban on hydraulic fracturing, saying that the move was “misguided" and instead New York should be touting the benefits of natural gas, especially up-state.
“To keep coal-fired power plants in upstate New York and not frack doesn't make any sense at all." Almost half of New York State sits atop of the Marcellus Shale reserve, some104,000 square miles between Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia.
And now for the disclaimer, I have been involved with electrical grid, coal fired power plants, transmission lines and fracking issues mainly through the many meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) over the last decade. The state utility commissioners are arguably the mavens of electricity and power plants.
I favor responsible harvesting of natural gas in the US, after closely following the energy renaissance fostered by fracking in the last 15 years: What I refer to as practical environmentalism.
So did you.
You even went on to say that the economic and health benefits of natural gas, especially when compared with other fossil fuels like coal, outweigh the potential health impact which can be prevented with tough regulation.
Without any government funding, indeed, in the face of government obstructions, fracking has changed the economic dynamic of the world in a very positive way, helping to take much of the energy production out of the hands of our enemies and marginal friends. Thanks to responsible hydraulic fracturing, the US has been able to access natural gas and tight oil previously unavailable, with few or no examples of groundwater or drinking water contamination, according to the EPA's own testing.
That said, I cannot help but call attention to the total lack of media coverage accorded the Mayor's second part of his major "anti-coal campaign" announcement. What I will call his anti-anti gas campaign.
If for no other reason, one should remind you of your opinion on natural gas, pipelines and fracking. Given the fact that new natural gas power plants have allowed the US to close down older coal-fired power plants and reduce greenhouse gases significantly in the last decade which he fully supports, your support on all things regarding energy and the environment does matter, especially with anti-fracking statements of the other Democratic presidential candidates.
The Daily News Headline might scream: "It's fracking unbelievable, Mayor!!!!"
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