oped BTR letters & comments
Pipeline hate
is misplaced
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,BTR FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 5, 2020 13
Hutch traffic
can be avoided
Dear editor,
Anyone who rides the
Hutchinson River Parkway
knows there is a signifi cant
slowdown at the Westchester/
Bronx border.
This occurs as cars from
I-95 south merge onto the
Hutch South. This exit lane
from I-95 becomes the right
lane of the Hutch.
There should be a sign on
the exit ramp noting ‘Exit
ramp becomes right lane’. Additionally,
there should be a
thick white line painted between
the middle and right
lanes indicating ‘do not cross’
the lane. There should be lane
markings in the right lane
stating ‘stay in lane’.
If the drivers entering the
Hutch would adhere to these
rules and not try to cross over
to the middle lane, the resulting
traffi c slowdown would be
greatly alleviated. I sent two
requests to the NYS Depart-
No such thing
as a free lunch
Dear editor,
In ancient Rome, government
attempted to curry favor
with the masses by offering
free bread and circuses.
Today, we have NYC Council
member Mark Treyger and
other elected offi cials proposing
free New York City Transit
subway and buses for everyone.
Too many public offi cials
want to give away ‘free stuff’.
When it comes to transit, they
forget that it is a four-way
dance between revenues collected
at the farebox combined
with fi nancial assistance from
the city, state and federal governments
that pay the full
cost.
Just how would Albany
and City Hall combine come
up with several billion per
year to make up for lost revenues?
Governor Cuomo is already
facing a $6 billion shortfall
in his proposed next state
budget. What happens to the
thousands of NYC Transit token
booth clerks, Metro Card
vending machine and turnstile
maintenance workers
whose skills and functions are
no longer needed? The MTA is
investing over $600 million in
the new OMNY system to replace
the Metro Card. What
do you do with that investment?
How many more homeless
people will fl ock to the
subway system as a result of a
free fare?
TANSTAAFL - There
ain’t no such thing as a free
lunch, or in this case a bus
or subway ride. You either
pay a portion at the farebox
(which averages 50% of the
true cost per ride) or more
taxes to City Hall, Albany
and Washington, who will
have to send more money to
the MTA for covering 100%
of the costs.
Larry Penner
BY MICHAEL JAMES BARTON
Sixteen-year-old Swedish
student Greta Thunberg admonished
global leaders at
last year’s United Nations:
“We are in the beginning of a
mass extinction, and all you
can talk about is money and
fairy tales of eternal economic
growth. How dare you!”
But it’s her parents who
are daring. Why terrorize
children with fairy tales of
mass extinction?
When faced with a choice
between easy rhetoric and
actual science-based reductions
in greenhouse emissions,
green activists opt for
emotional grandstanding. So
it was no surprise when Greta
visited American Indian reservations
in the Dakotas to
condemn two pipeline projects.
One of them, Keystone XL,
would traverse under South
Dakota as it brings Canadian
crude oil to Nebraska.
The other, Dakota Access,
would increase the amount
of oil fl owing through an existing
underground pipeline
between North Dakota and Illinois.
Activists insist on scaring
Greta, rather than acknowledging
that pipelines are in
the environment’s best interest.
Transporting oil underground
generates over 75 percent
less greenhouse gas than
transporting it by train.
It is also far safer. Spills are
over four times more likely to
occur via rail than a pipeline.
More than 99 percent of pipeline
accidents do no harm to
the environment.
During the Obama and
Trump administrations, Keystone
XL passed six different
environmental assessments
determining the project was
safe. Dakota Access twice received
the ’green” light from
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In the environmental fantasy
sold to Ms. Thunberg,
all oil and gas production
gets shut down immediately
in favor of clean energy and
renewables. Unfortunately,
that would result in the very
mass extinction she has been
taught to fear. Well into the
foreseeable future, there is
no way to power the global
economy without some greenhouse
emissions.
In fact, behind the biggest
source of reduced emissions
over the past decade has been
the increase in the production
of natural gas, which has
replaced older, dirtier coal in
electricity generation plants
nationwide.
I suspect Ms. Thunberg
may one day look back and
wonder why she was told that
economic growth was evil.
Five months after operations
began, Dakota Access
added $43 million to North
Dakota’s state coffers. Soon
after that, the state collected
an additional $250 million in
tax revenue. And during construction,
the pipeline generated
roughly 12,000 jobs.
If allowed to move forward,
Keystone XL will yield
similar benefi ts. The pipeline
is projected to create 20,000
jobs and yield $6.5 billion in
worker income during construction.
The project would
add $20 billion to local economies.
Pipeline projects like Keystone
XL and Dakota Access
will bring environmental and
economic benefi ts. That is,
unless green activists stand
in the way. How dare they.
(Michael James Barton is
the founder of Hyatt Solutions
and speaks around the country
on energy and energy security
matters. He previously
served as the deputy director of
Middle East policy at the Pentagon.)
ment of Transportation website
requesting the same.
Michael Furnari
statements
This issue of As Stated includes
comments from Con
Edison, REBNY and Borough
President Ruben Diaz, Jr.
Statement from Con Edison
on the Mayor’s State of the City
Address..... “We want to help
lead the drive towards a clean
energy future, and will work
with the city and state with
their goals to reduce carbon
emissions. We are working
closely with the city to help establish
EV charging stations.
We are also working with customers
to consider cleaner alternatives
to natural gas for
their heating and cooking
needs.”
Joint statement by New
York State Association of
REALTORS® (NYSAR) president
Jennifer Stevenson and
Real Estate Board New York
(REBNY) president James
Whelan on court order regarding
broker commissions.....
“The entry today by the Court
in Albany of an order temporarily
halting the implementation
of NYS Department of
State’s interpretation of the
Statewide Housing Stability
and Tenant Protection
Act means that thousands of
hardworking, honest real estate
agents across New York
state can do business in the
same way they did prior to last
week’s DOS memo without
fear of discipline by the DOS.
We look forward to ultimately
resolving this matter in court
in the weeks ahead.”
Statement from Borough
President Ruben Diaz, Jr.
regarding Governor Cuomo’s
lawsuit on Trusted Traveler
Program ban..... “The Trump
Administration’s attempts
to bully New York state into
abandoning our values cannot
go unanswered. Our
state’s ‘green light law’ was
the correct thing to do, and
any attempt to get New York
to reverse itself on providing
driver’s licenses to undocumented
immigrants is nothing
more than craven, hateful
political pandering.”
BOROUGH PRESIDENT
RUBEN DIAZ, JR.
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