Dear John, In case you missed it... Congressman Langworthy is leading the charge to block Biden and the radical left's war on energy. Check out his Op-Ed in yesterday's Buffalo News about how we will face catastrophic death tolls if New York doesn't have access to safe, reliable natural gas. Last month marked one year since Winter Storm Elliott hit the Northeast, tragically claiming the lives of 43 Western New Yorkers with 106 total casualties. The storm left hundreds of thousands of homes without power, resulting in the deaths of 11 Western New Yorkers without heat. The importance of reliable energy during New York winters cannot be overstated. It saves lives – yet Gov. Kathy Hochul and radicals in Albany continue to chip away at access to natural gas in our state. Winter Storm Elliot is not the first time our state has experienced a devastating cold-weather cyclone, and it won’t be the last. It is up to local, state and federal officials, paired with private energy partners, to ensure we are prepared for future winters. In November, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) released a full report of their analysis of what went wrong to cause the widespread outages during Elliott and how we can fortify our natural gas infrastructure. The issues highlighted in the report are nothing short of alarming, and illustrate that our state narrowly avoided a much larger energy crisis. The report states, “In the wake of massive natural gas production declines, and to a lesser extent, declines in natural gas processing, the natural gas fuel supply struggled to meet both residential heating load and generating unit demand for natural gas ... ” The report also noted that large numbers of natural gas-powered generating units failed as they were not prepared for the cold weather, and electric grid operators were unprepared to meet demands. It’s clear that we have a lot of work to do at the state and federal levels to establish winter weather reliability standards for our natural gas infrastructure. However, addressing the need for increased domestic energy production and pipelines would be one of the largest factors to increase supply and reliability. Unfortunately, the needs of the constituents in our state face an ideological wall held up by Democrats in Albany. Hochul has been vocal about where she stands and has implemented the policies to prove it – she would rather appease the radical environmentalists of New York City than ensure New Yorkers’ access to safe, dependable natural gas. The governor and State Assembly have already instituted an unconstitutional ban on natural gas hookups in new construction, perpetuated an all-out fracking ban and set unrealistic standards to push our state cut emissions to zero, though we only account for 0.4% of global emissions. We have ample opportunity to not only prevent future tragedies, but also put our state at the forefront of natural gas production – the Southern Tier sits on the Marcellus Shale, one of the largest sources of untapped natural gas. For political reasons, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned fracking while our neighbors in Pennsylvania are safely extracting this resource while transforming their local economy and pulling those communities out of poverty. Reversing this ban and the subsequent infrastructure that would follow would increase winter storm readiness significantly. I’m proud to lead a letter to Governor Hochul, urging her to address the concerns outlined in the FERC/NERC report and to work with us to implement their recommendations. This letter was signed by House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (NY-21) and Reps. Anthony D’Esposito (NY-04), Mike Lawler (NY-17), Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11), Mark Molinaro (NY-19), Claudia Tenney (NY-24) and Brandon Williams (NY-22). We have an opportunity to secure the well-being of our constituents by taking decisive action to fortify our energy infrastructure. Winter Storm Elliott laid bare the vulnerabilities in our natural gas supply and the consequences of political ideologies trumping practical solutions. The safety and resilience of New Yorkers should always be our top priority, transcending party lines and personal agendas. Nick Langworthy represents New York’s 23rd Congressional District. SUPPORT NICK TODAY! DONATE HERE   Our Company | Contact Us | FAQs | Privacy Policy   Langworthy for Congress | P.O. Box 120, Clarence, NY 14031 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected] powered by Try email marketing for free today!