I've heard a lot about colluding with Russia over the past 18 months. I always find it interesting as there is no better friend to Russia than those opposing the use of Natural Gas. Russia was the world's king of Natural Gas, heating all of Europe; that is until the United States overtook them.

That aside, we are voting on whether to voice our opposition to a solution to the Natural Gas Moratorium that hasn't even been proposed yet. NYSEG decided to forgo building a pipeline in favor of looking for alternatives. That Request For Proposal is now just two months old, the first proposals have not even been submitted and already, the county doesn't like the parameters of the deal. I feel like Lando praying Darth Vader doesn't alter the deal further.


The only reason to pass this resolution is because you feel the proposals that could replace a gas pipeline will be so weak that they will not stand up to challenge by CNG or LNG. It's no secret I see Natural Gas as a bridge fuel. Hundreds of trucks run through Lansing everyday. I'd much rather see them run on Natural Gas than Diesel, but again, self-proclaimed environmentalists don't see the wisdom in such and obvious choice.

The powerplant wanted to repower with Natural Gas a decade ago. If they had done it the same time as Cornell did with their powerplant, that would have been years of no coal use, years of a much lighter footprint to get our electricity that we now get from far off gas fired plants, all because we don't want to make it here. Everyone in this room except for Anne gets their heat from Natural Gas or Oil. I don't see a race to give up that heat source. I don't see the race to switch to heat pumps and put in solar panels like me and again Anne to offset the increased electricity needed to run those pumps. Like the Priuses and heat pumps of today, they are running on Natural Gas. You just don't see it.

I'll close with saying that it's true that a number of multi-unit housing projects in Tompkins County are going with heat pumps even though there's access to natural gas. So why isn't Lansing afforded that same choice? Why are those in the room sure that Lansing developers would chose natural gas when according to you, heat pumps are so far superior? Not to brag but with do have an over 90 percent graduation rate at the high school.

-Mike Sigler, Tompkins County Legislator, Lansing

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