New York Is Reaping What Its Leaders Have Sown

A lot of people have said at one time or another “New York doesn’t get half the abuse it deserves”. It is, after all, the seat of the Evil Empire (the New York Yankees), which is reason enough to be punished. But New York doesn’t need to rely on outside forces to receive its punishment because it is being punished by the very people it has elected to govern it.

The latest round of self-inflicted wounds plaguing the people of New York City? A natural gas shortage.

New York’s drive to wean New Yorkers off fossil fuels has been pushed at both the city and state level. Governor Andrew Cuomo has banned fracking in his state and killed the idea of new pipelines from being built in or through New York. His push to make New York run on 100% renewable energy sounds like a laudable goal, but anyone with any kind of engineering background could tell him it is an unachievable goal because the amount of energy required to meet needs of New Yorkers is staggering, and the needs are growing. The anti-climate-change activists inside and outside of government are working hard to ensure that energy isn’t going to be there, and they’re succeeding.

New Yorkers are now playing the price for the activism that has blocked a number of needed pipelines.

So how are things going out there in Brooklyn, Queens and the rest of Long Island? The issue of natural gas has suddenly sprung back into the news over the last week, but for a new reason — people are starting to scream that they can’t get natural gas hookups.

Among various tales of woe, one of my favorites is this one, reported at NY1, from a woman named Julie Levin from Park Slope, Brooklyn:

"I didn't know what it was until I researched it, and I actually, loving our environment, am against this pipeline, but I do need gas," Park Slope resident Julie Levin said at the news conference. "We have nowhere to go. Our lease is up in a month. We have no more money left. We need to move into our house."

Well boo-hoo! But you can’t really blame Julie. Pretty much everyone in Park Slope thinks that natural gas comes from the tooth fairy.

Needless to say, New York politicians — most particularly the ones that have been the most vociferous opponents of the pipeline and supporters of the New York “climate leadership” law — have rushed forth to blame National Grid for the crisis. Governor Cuomo led the charge.

Other politicians who were also vehemently against the proposed pipelines are now the ones raking National Grid over the coals because they can’t supply the natural gas customers’ needs. As the linked article asks, “Can the pols really have no idea that when they block natural gas infrastructure, sooner or later someone is going to be denied service?” Of course, they can. They’re totally oblivious. It is apparent they are incapable of seeing cause and effect, nor do they want to. After all, it wouldn’t serve them if they could because then they wouldn’t be able to keep their cognitive dissonance in place and wouldn’t be able to work at cross-purposes to the needs of their constituents.