Gov. Cuomo is paralyzed with indecision on “fracking’’ for natural gas because it’s a “lose-lose’’ situation where even Southern Tier residents who should benefit financially will be bitterly disappointed, a highly placed political source has told The Post.
Cuomo, who has dithered for more than two years on whether to OK the drilling process, which is used safely in nearly 30 other states, fears that his planned “toughest-in-the-nation” regulations and low natural-gas prices have combined to make it unlikely major gas companies would make the investments needed to develop new wells, the source said.
“His fear is that if he gives the go-ahead, nothing is going to happen, the gas companies won’t come in because of overregulation, and gas-price economics and the people [in the] Southern Tier will then say, ‘Look, Cuomo killed it another way.’
“Cuomo’s regulators plan to impose almost impossible restrictions, natural-gas prices are way down, and the governor knows that the less valuable ‘dry’ natural gas is in the [Southern Tier’s] Marcellus Shale, not the valuable ‘wet’ gas that the companies are going after now,’’ the source continued.
“The drilling decision is, and has been all along, about what the governor can gain from it, and right now, he doesn’t see himself gaining anything, whatever he does,’’ explained the source, who has strong ties to Cuomo’s campaign contributors.
After telling associates for nearly two years he believed natural-gas drilling could be conducted safely, Cuomo developed cold feet late last year in the wake of an increasingly aggressive “anti’’ movement led by environmental activists, including his former brother-in-law and uncle to his three daughters, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who say the process is dangerous.
Cuomo, who has publicly claimed for three years — from when he began running for governor — that the “science and not the politics” would guide his decision, now maintains that he’s merely awaiting a final recommendation from state Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah, supposedly expected within days.
But few close to Cuomo believe that’s the case. Many say that the governor — who has taken a radical turn to the political left since the start of the year — is being guided by political considerations alone.
A Cuomo spokesman denied that the governor was holding off on a decision for political reasons.
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Hapless Assembly Republican Minority Leader Brian Kolb, the weakest of the legislative leaders, is even more politically impotent than most people realize: Not only doesn’t he get any respect from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), he doesn’t get any from the Republican leader of the Senate, Dean Skelos, either.
A highly knowledgeable fellow GOP assemblyman provided The Post with a remarkably candid assessment of just how weak the Finger Lakes-based Kolb is:
“Kolb wasn’t in the room for the [budget] negotiations. Skelos doesn’t tell him what’s going on. Skelos even ordered the Senate GOP staff not to communicate with the Assembly GOP staff.
“The Assembly GOP has been totally in the dark. At this point, Kolb’s goal vis-à-vis Silver is to avoid the [former Republican Leader James] Tedisco treatment, which is when Silver used to order Tedisco’s office Internet turned off for random weeks, or no repairs to the office printers, or other petty stuff.
“Kolb’s big accomplishment has been to avoid the daily humiliations on workaday hassles. Actually having any substantive input on legislation, that’s a ways off.’’
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Utica area Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney found “the paranoia level surprisingly high’’ during a breakfast visit last month to Cuomo at the Governor’s Mansion.
Tenney, part of a group of Assembly Republicans hosted by the governor as budget negotiations were wrapping up, brought along a cap bearing the logo of the Remington Arms Co., the embattled company in her district that is in danger of closing because of Cuomo’s severely restrictive new gun law.
“She had another assemblyman take her picture wearing the cap at the entrance to the Mansion, because she planned show it to the workers at Remington,’’ said a witness to the events.
But once inside the Mansion, Tenney, a lawyer and mother of a 21-year-old Marine, was surrounded by a number of nervous Cuomo aides including Larry Schwartz, the governor’s secretary, who feared she’d defiantly put on the cap during Cuomo’s remarks.
“Larry put his hand on Claudia’s arm and said, ‘Are you going to wear that during the breakfast because if you are, we’re going to have to ask you to leave’,’’ said the witness.
Tenney later told friends that being at the Governor’s Mansion was like “taking the SATs or the bar exam, you’re always surrounded by a bunch of proctors.’’