New York must be running out of room: Only days after Gov. Cuomo said there’s “no place in the state” for “extreme conservatives,” Mayor de Blasio said he doesn’t “see any place for fracking.”
De Blasio seems to be on the wrong side of history here, particularly in his own city. That’s because more and more New Yorkers are heating with natural gas — which can be supplied via fracking.
Nearly 1,300 owners of large city buildings served by Con Ed switched from oil to natural gas last year. And the number has grown every year since 2011. Why? Mostly because gas is cheaper. It’s also better for the environment, and the city now requires owners to phase out the use of heavy oil.
But because of Cuomo’s fracking ban, New Yorkers must get their gas from out of state. That means millions in lost fracking income and thousands in lost jobs for upstate, which is rich in natural-gas reserves.
True, de Blasio might not care about upstate. But locally harvested natural gas could mean even lower prices for his own constituents. Yet even that doesn’t move him: “The one thing I am firm about is that I don’t see any place for fracking,” the mayor said Thursday.
De Blasio says he’s worried about possible environmental dangers. But just last week, the European Union dropped the idea of tough new safety laws for fracking. And most of America, including the Obama administration, has found fracking safe.
In short, when it comes to fracking, Cuomo and de Blasio are clearly the outliers — even within their own party.
Our question: Is there a place in New York for these extremist views?