Business Council reacts to comments by DOE Secretary Rick Perry

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Jun
2018

ALBANY, N.Y.—In response to U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry's comments regarding the lack of approvals of new natural gas infrastructure in New York and the potentially catastrophic economic and security implications, The Business Council of New York State, Inc. issued the following statement.

"We are happy to see Secretary Perry echoing statements and concerns made by The Business Council and our member companies. As we saw during the extreme cold snap this past winter, New York's lack of pipeline capacity is an existential threat to our state and regional economies. Some believe that since we avoided catastrophe the power system is fine and new energy infrastructure is not needed. This view is dangerously misguided and overlooks the economic and environmental impacts of a constrained system. The truth is we got by because the New York and New England ISOs did a superb job of operating the power system through the cold spell.

During the bomb cyclone last December, energy prices spiked by upwards of 1000 percent as supply was unable to keep up with demand. At the same time, the New England ISO reported that New England generators burned through about 2 million barrels of oil, more than twice as much as all the oil used by New England power plants during 2016. And in just one week, several oil-fired generators were already nearing their annual emissions limits. This weather event should serve as a warning that similar price hikes, and even worse - service disruptions - will follow.

It is imperative that New York stop catering to fearmongering and end its politically-motivated blockade of nearly all safe and viable infrastructure projects. These projects must be decided on their merits. If the state of New York is unwilling to do so, we welcome the federal government's intervention."

– Darren Suarez, Director of Government Affairs, The Business Council of New York State, Inc.

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