"As a result, and to maintain reliable service to our existing natural gas customers on the coldest days, we will no longer be accepting applications for natural gas connections from new customers in most of our Westchester County service area beginning March 15, 2019," Con Edison said in its statement.”
Boom! Environmental extremists are probably rejoicing at their success at shutting down the big bad utility companies that do nothing but pollute the environment and put us all at risk. Or do they?
Prolonged protests against the utility companies have concluded in the governor pushing to shut down Indian Point. We don’t believe there is anyone in the area that has not heard their argument about how dangerous or horrible the facility is to the local area or those in the 12-mile radius deemed the radioactive safety zone. They have pushed since the 1970’s to close the facility. And, now that we have a governor who panders to every minority-fringe group to hold a rally, he has given in to their battle for a few votes. Sure, some of their concerns may be legitimate but having an all-or-nothing mentality does not serve us well. Nor does the governor serve the rest of us by not having replacement power plans in place to offset the closing.
Alternative “solutions” routinely touted always include the same banal arguments: solar power, wind-power and electric vehicles that don’t pollute. We’ll admit that they can be a piece of the solution, just not the entire solution. Let’s ignore for a moment the energy needed to produce an electric car, train, bus or truck. Let’s also ignore the energy needed to produce the components used to build the equipment that builds the cars, trucks, etc. Once built, go ahead, plug them in and charge them up. While they are considered to be using “clean energy,” the power plant that produces that power is still polluting, especially if it’s a carbon based facility – unless it’s nuclear power (we’ll concede the spent fuel rods). The point is they are only shifting the supposed pollution from one medium to another and not really solving the problem. As an aside, France has eradicated many of the nuclear power plant issues by continuing to develop it.
In the same Journal News article, Westchester darling, State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, said it's going to "devastate" local development, particularly in cities like New Rochelle and Yonkers, which are in the midst of redeveloping their downtowns. "These projects are on a marginal budget, and we're not going to get the economic development that we're hoping for," Paulin said. “Compounding the problem is affordable housing. Developers won't be able to do them at all, so this is a huge problem for our county and it's disappointing that we're being told two months prior (to the start of the moratorium).”
We agree. However, the anti-fracking movement in New York, blocked again by a governor seeking a future presidential bid, has made natural gas expansion/exploration/development virtually impossible for the likes of any utility. But not only have they tied the utilities’ proverbial hands behind their backs, but the extremists vehemently fought the replacement and expansion of the existing Tennessee gas pipeline using numerous excuses. One was that it ran along the faultline shared with Indian Point. Another was that it ran through populated neighborhoods. Still another was the close proximity and risk to New York City. Those same objections were moot as long as a natural gas line from Canada went through Canada and other parts of the country, just not Westchester. Sorry, but you can’t have it both ways.
By stopping any and all types of growth and development related to energy, the energy extremists have finally gotten what they wanted: no growth. So, while the likes of Amy Paulin, Mayors Noam Bramson or Tom Roach may be upset that their cities, along with towns and villages may need to remain the size they currently are, it’s good news for the numerous neighborhoods trying to stop or at least slow the over-expansion taking place throughout their neighborhoods. Dare we say that we have finally found a way to stop Mr Feiner's unbridled over-development of our Town?
Development is better suited for the less populated areas, such as in the northernmost sections of the county, than in the southern portion. Why do we say this? It’s simple. Traffic is already unbearable in almost all areas of the county. Forget rush hour – it’s just always congested. Why? Politicians are anxious to give huge tax breaks to developers, disguised as “incentives”, that add residential and business people and traffic on every speck of land that is undeveloped. We wind up paying for it financially as well as in a poorer quality of life. Their tired and ineffective solution? Add more mass transit and tell everyone that millennials don’t drive or own cars (not true). But they continue to ignore the infrastructure and roadways while giving in to every developer. Neighbors and neighborhoods frequently object to no avail and are told this won’t have a negative impact. It’s all a pile of crap!
Every traffic study, environmental study along with the mountains of paperwork that even these approvers don’t always read before they vote in favor of a project, all do the same thing. They are all crafted to negate any argument offered in protest or objection. We’re told that traffic is always minimal and will not adversely affect the area based on NY legal criteria. Residents know it’s a joke and that this is simply not true. Many have used the analogy of putting a frog in boiling water and he’ll jump right out. Put him in water and heat it to a boil and he’ll not notice and die. Everyone in the various neighborhoods are noticing that they are dying. Special interests are killing our neighborhoods. Say something and the neighborhoods are either ignored or labeled anti-“something” and then bombarded with more. It has to stop and maybe the environmentalists have finally found a way to do just that. Inadvertently, they are helping to make A Better Greenburgh.
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