Julian Block On The Tax In The Health Care Act That Everybody Knew Was A Tax

You may wonder why this article from several months ago is on the site. It seems some of our readers and members have recently become concerned that royalties from gas wells may be taxed an additional 3.8 % under Obamacare. This article helps with understanding the issue involved. From my point of view folks, I wish for you all that you have the adjusted gross income of the nature discussed to have to pay the additional taxes. Frankly I would gladly pay the tax if someone would please pay me for a lease and supply me with modified adjusted gross income in excess of $250,000. I pray that you all are gifted with a level of income more than sufficient to meet your needs!!JLCpulse

Peter J Reilly, Contributor in Forbes 6/23/2012

My friend Julian Block does not like to use the term Obamacare, but I find it pretty handy. The Act was upheld by the Supreme Court today by holding that the controversial individual mandate was a tax. We should not forget that there were other tax provisions in the bill that everybody knew were taxes. There is the excise tax on tanning booth services and a new tax on investment income, which Julian explains here.

Medicare Surtaxes Hike Taxes For Upper-Incomers

Bush-era tax rates are set to expire at the end of 2012, which would cause...

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Not all communities are opposed to fracking

Written by George Richter , Guest Viewpoints, Gannett 1/16/2012

On Jan. 8, the three local Gannett newspapers carried as the lead story this item: “Officials seek more time to comment on fracking.” The evening before, at least three local television broadcasts used this as their lead story as well.

The one thing that I noticed to be missing from this news is that almost all of the officials that were cited in the article represent communities in which no gas exploration is likely to occur. Where exactly in the cities of Binghamton, Elmira and Ithaca do the mayors expect to see drilling rigs? And the Town of Caroline already has a gas drilling ban in place.

Moreover, there is likely none of us in local government positions that have enough scientific and technical expertise to provide responsible comment on the Department of Environmental Conservation’s findings, anyway. All of us, including those represented in the article, are part-time community leaders with other full-time careers.

The vast majority of the town officials where gas exploration will likely take place if permitted have taken no formal position in this matter. We have passed no bans or moratoriums, nor we have we passed resolutions of support. With this review now approaching five years, the last thing that is needed is more time. We are ready for decisions upon which we can act.

If New York does permit this type of gas exploration, all of our communities may see both negative and positive effects, even the...

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Printing the Legend

Dave Blackmon in Forbes Energy 1/14/2013

“This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” – From The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Artesia Wells, TX – Elements of the anti-fracking movement wasted no time in capitalizing on a January 13 report in the San Antonio Express News in which oilfield workers near Artesia Wells in the Eagle Ford Shale region report seeing “unidentified lights in the night skies” and even captured blurry video footage of one of them. The association of the UFO phenomenon with hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” as it has come to be known, created an immediate sensation throughout the anti-fracking community.

The Park Foundation was the first to jump in, announcing that it would fund a study to be conducted by Cornell University Professors Anthony Ingraffea and Robert Howarth to explore the emissions implications of UFO traffic caused by fracking. “We don’t know at this time how these spaceships are powered,” Howarth stated, “but if it’s related to fracking, well, it just can’t be anything good.”

Shortly after the Park Foundation announcement, anti-fracking activists Sean Lennon and Yoko Ono announced they would stage a free concert in Central Park in early February to raise awareness of the growing threat of fracking-related UFO activity. “We’re, like, really concerned, you know?” Lennon said when asked...

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Elementary Indoctrination: The Natural Gas Opposition Recruits 4th Graders

2013 January 13

by Tom Shepstone

Victor Furman
Chenango County Landowner

The remarkable similarity between the strategy of natural gas opponents and a recent event at a Middletown, New York, elementary school raises the specter of student indoctrination. The Times-Herald-Record participated in using fourth graders to perpetuate a political stunt intended to send a message to Governor Cuomo to oppose hydraulic fracturing, a subject about which, 9-year olds can hardly be expected to offer a mature opinion.

To All Parents and Grandparents:

This morning I became aware of something deeply troubling that should offend each and every one of you. You can find, at the bottom of this post, what was so upsetting to me. I expect you will find it equally disturbing. It’s an article that appeared in the Middletown, New York, Times-Herald-Record describing an amazingly brazen case of elementary school indoctrination by natural gas opponents who seem to know no shame, assisted by the cooperation...

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DEC's actual fracking deadline could be Feb. 13

Written by Jon Campbell Albany Bureau, Gannett 1/11/2013

ALBANY — New York regulators may have to signal a decision on hydraulic fracturing by Feb. 13 if they hope to meet an end-of-the-month deadline for finalizing a set of proposed regulations.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation faces a Feb. 27 deadline to either finalize the planned hydrofracking rules or allow them to expire.

But an extensive environmental review — known as the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, or the SGEIS -- has to be released first. State law mandates that the SGEIS must be released to the public at least 10 days before the DEC issues a “findings statement,” which would include an ultimate decision on whether to allow fracking in New York.

The document, which totaled 1,500 pages in a 2011 draft, would have to be published in the DEC’s official bulletin, which is printed each Wednesday. The final Wednesday that meets the 10-day advanced notice period would be Feb. 13.

“We’re optimistically hopeful something will be released by (Feb. 13),” said Yvonne Hennessey, who represents the oil-and-gas industry as an Albany-based lawyer with Hiscock & Barclay LLP.

The DEC declined to respond to inquiries about the deadline.

While much of the focus has been on the Feb. 27 deadline, Feb. 13 could prove to be just as important in the fracking debate.

The...

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Gas bags

Kyle Smith on January 12,2012 in NY Post

Hollywood stars are using scare tactics to stop fracking — but they have neither science, economics nor sense on their side

Fifty years or so after coffee became popular in Sweden, King Gustav III decided to take extreme action against this menace to the public health. In 1746, the monarch issued a royal edict warning citizens of the obvious dangers of this known poison. First he heavily taxed coffee, then he banned it outright. People kept drinking it anyway.

To turn the public against the caffeine threat once and for all, he ordered up an experiment involving two identical twins, both of them condemned prisoners. One would be forced to drink three pots of tea a day; the other, three pots of coffee. Two doctors were assigned to supervise. One doctor died. The other doctor died. Poor King Gustav himself was assassinated. At length the tea drinker died, at age 83. The coffee drinker? He survived them all. The coffee ban kept getting renewed anyway, until the 1820s.

Bill, a New York dairy farmer featured in “FrackNation,” says that fracking will save his farm from having to be divided and sold.

Fracking looks more and more like the coffee of the 21st century.

Everyone knows that hydraulic fracturing to release natural gas from shale deposits far beneath’s the earth’s surface is evil. It’s poisoning the water supply, it’s...

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Matt Damon's Promised Land Plays to Silly Fracking Stereotypes

Please let me know when you grow weary of this topic, I am supplying the reviews for your education and edification, and this is a good one. I like the insights and the writing. JLCpulse

By Daniel Simmons January 10, 2013 in US News On Energy section

I was one of the brave few who saw Matt Damon's new movie Promised Land last week. The movie turned out to be enlightening, not for its exploration of the biggest development in energy in the last decade, but rather for the writers' and producers' view of business.

Anyone who has followed America's resurgent oil and natural gas production knows that the use of hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling has led to has vast increases in domestic oil and natural gas production. The United States is now the world's largest natural gas producer and according to the International Energy Agency, the United States will become the largest oil producer within five years.

Hollywood is starved for original movie ideas and when the writers started working on Promised Land, they likely thought they had a great new villain in hydraulic fracturing. But it appears that reality intruded and the writers discovered that hydraulic fracturing...

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JLCNY Comments Issued to the DEC

Today, our legal advocate, Scott Kurkoski hand delivered the following comments to the DEC on our behalf. The primary authors of the report, Dan Fitzsimmons, Bob Williams, Dale Roe and Scott Kurkoski spent many hours toiling over the regulations, reviewing the law, gathering input from many of you and evaluating industry standards and best practices. They synthesized their collection of information with what we know from our research and work over the years to be the best course to achieve smart natural gas development -- that's both good for the environment but also viable for the industry. Following delivery of our comments, Scott will testify at the New York State Assembly Hearings to represent our views on safe, responsible natural gas development.

Please see the attachments below.

Attachments:
File	File size
JLCNY_2013_Comments_to_HVHF_Proposed_Regulations.pdf	604 Kb
Regs comments release final.pdf	523 Kb
Scott_Kurkoski_Testimony_Assembly_Hearing_011013.pdf	3334 Kb

Comments (1)

Mission Accomplished, thank you landowners for attending the rally.

Dear Friends and Natural Gas Supporters,

The Albany rally is behind us and I want to extend a huge "THANK YOU!" to everyone who attended and helped us to make our presence known.

It was an unqualified success for us. We had a larger turnout than anticipated and were well received in Albany. Our politeness and civility were especially noted!

We told you we needed a presence and you delivered. Thanks so much!

I want to extend a special thanks to Vic Furman and Steve Herz for all their diligence and effort in organizing this big success for us. GREAT JOB!!

Warm Regards,

Dan Fitzsimmons, President

Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, Inc.

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Albany Rally Release

CONTACT: Susan Oliver, JLCNY susanboliver@me.com or 703-216-4078

NY LANDOWNERS URGE GOVERNOR TO SUPPORT NATURAL GAS DEVELOPMENT IN 2013

BINGHAMTON –NY landowners including farmers, retired schoolteachers, construction workers and small business owners today traveled to Albany to signal urgency for moving ahead with natural gas development to Governor Cuomo as he readies his State of the State address and prepares to lay out his economic agenda for 2013. The landowners, who represent the Joint Landowners Coalition of NY (JLCNY), which includes 77,000 people with over one million unleased acres, are calling on the state to move forward with safe and responsible shale gas development to improve NY’s environment and economy, and to bring closure to a four-year environmental review process characterized by numerous delays and missed deadlines.

“We are hardworking taxpayers of NY state and we need the benefits natural gas brings: jobs, cleaner air, lower heating bills and energy independence,” said Dan Fitzsimmons, president of the JLCNY, lifelong Binghamton/Conklin resident. “Every state with natural gas in America except NY is developing it and reaping the environmental and economic benefits.”

Citing numerous studies and internal documents from the NYS Department of Health, the JLCNY will remind those in Albany that enough time and taxpayer money has been wasted and that it’s time to bring the process to an end and release rigorous regulations that will promote cleaner air and spur the upstate...

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Julian Block On The Tax In The Health Care Act That Everybody Knew Was A Tax

Not all communities are opposed to fracking

Written by George Richter , Guest Viewpoints, Gannett 1/16/2012

Printing the Legend

Elementary Indoctrination: The Natural Gas Opposition Recruits 4th Graders

DEC's actual fracking deadline could be Feb. 13

Written by Jon Campbell Albany Bureau, Gannett 1/11/2013

Gas bags

Hollywood stars are using scare tactics to stop fracking — but they have neither science, economics nor sense on their side

Matt Damon's Promised Land Plays to Silly Fracking Stereotypes

JLCNY Comments Issued to the DEC

Mission Accomplished, thank you landowners for attending the rally.

Albany Rally Release

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