Suing energy companies not good for America.

0:00 Speaker 1 Sunday morning. With this Sunday morning is Paul Zuber and he’s the executive vice president of the New York State Business Council. And you, Paul, Sunday morning, you worry about what the heck is going on, what crazinesses are going on?

0:19 So with it said, this morning, I called the Judge Weinberg to be on the call with us and tell us what the heck.

0:26 Speaker 2 Is going on?

0:28 Speaker 3 Yeah, you know, you know, John, there is a lot of craziness going on here here in New York. And I think one of the things that you know, we’ve talked about this often that’s frustrating to me is this kind of conversation about affordability. Yet these legislators don’t necessarily want to do anything in regards of affordability, and what

0:48 do I mean by that. So just recently it’s come out that there is this group that’s pushing for the prosecution of oil companies for reckless endangerment, for contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and in their function as gas and oil companies. Prior to that, earlier this session in Aubany, they actually passed the bill which is going to go

1:15 down before the governor which basically taxes these gas and oil companies for perceived, you know, damage to the environment based on their position as gas and oils companies. But the craziness of this bill is on several fronts, and the craziness of this lawsuits on several fronts. First of all, what were the gas and oil companies supposed to do.

1:38 Were they supposed to, like all of a sudden say, oh, you know what, we’re not going to sell natural gas and we’re not going to provide fuel to the consumer. That wouldn’t have worked. People would have died, They would have they would have frozen to death. And secondly, like, when does this type of stuff stop? Because they weren’t

1:56 the only ones that were contributing to greenhouse gas missions. We consumers, we’re contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Doesn’t mean they’re going to go after car manufacturers now, because I guess you could argue that, you know, gas powered cars contribute to greenhouse gassion and car owners and car owners it’s it’s crazy. But then what happens, What these people

2:19 don’t understand is that’s why let’s say.

2:21 Speaker 1 Well, I hate to interrupt you, but I just want to say that’s why November fifth is very important. It’s a decision between the craziness going on and the common sense that should be going on.

2:35 Speaker 3 Yeah, and you know, and here’s the thing too, John, It’s like, if people think for a second that somehow we’re going to, like, for the example, the super Fund bill I talked about, where they basically impose the gigantic tax on oil and gas companies, If people think that those oil and gas companies are not going to then

2:54 pass it on to the consumer, they’re completely out of their minds. So who does it end up hurting? It ends up hurting the individual who can at least who can least afford to have, you know, gasoline prices rising because of some foolishness about you know, whether or not they did or did not contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

3:15 And let’s not forget one other thing. In New York State, New York State, our greenhouse gas emissions are zero point four percent, we are less than half a percent. Do we admit greenhouse gases to the to the to the environment, even if we have a fully implemented And.

3:35 Speaker 1 What does China and Russia give to the envitement exactly?

3:41 Speaker 3 And they’re the ones who are causing the problems. It’s not us. And even if we have a fully implemented climate law in New York State, is only going to go down to point zero three percent, It’s only going to go down half a percent. So this is where it’s ridiculous. And then finally, I want to say this

3:56 to the public that’s listening. Even if this bill gets somehow the bill before the governor gets passed, or this lawsuit goes through, my next question is how are you going to impose it on foreign oil companies? And so basically what you’ve just done is you just passed a build and the only person that will affect our US

4:14 companies because best of luck getting it from a Russian company, best of luck from getting it from a Saudi Arabian company. They are not going to pay anything and they’re not going to be subject to any criminal prosecution. So this is the ridiculousness of it. It’s for show. And the problem is people start thinking that this is something that

4:33 is necessary for the United States economy and a New York economy, and all it does is it hurts consumers. It’s ridiculous.

4:41 Speaker 1 Absolutely, Judge Weinberg, you had of comment Paul, good to talk to you.

4:45 Speaker 2 Listen, the real issue is that these attempts are preempted by federal law, federal environmental law, whether it’s Clean Air Act, clean Water Acts, it’s preempted. Is a case right now that try trying to bring up to the United States Supreme Court will make it perfectly clear that both on the civil side and on the criminal side, local governments

5:08 and state governments cannot do this. Cannot do this, And that’s the whole point. So this is frivolous litigation that will only cost the oil companies money to defend and litigate for years. And as you correctly point out, Paul, this cost where we passed on these litigation costs back to the consumers.

5:26 Speaker 3 Yeah, and this is this is do you raise a great point, Judge Weinberg. This is like I call it kabuki theater, right, because what it is is it’s a bunch of groups out there pushing this agenda and then when it all blows up on them, they’re going to blame the oil companies and they’re gonna blame everybody else.

5:43 But they all know and it’s been mentioned to us from the legislature that when they pass the super Fund bill. Oh, you know, don’t worry about it. It’ll get overturned in the courts anyway. Right, So if you know it’s going to get overturned in the course, you know it’s not constitutional, why would you go down pathway push something.

6:01 Speaker 1 I’ll give you my interpretation because Governor Newsom all of a sudden said that what did he say, Judge? Governor Newsom said that he is putting certain restrictions on oil companies. He signed an executive order a couple of days ago.

6:21 And my interpretation of that was, if President Trump wins reelection, then it’s going to go into federal statue and that goes away. But meanwhile it makes his constituents happy.

6:34 Speaker 2 And the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court, listen, the Supreme Court, Paul and John. Supreme Court rules on this and says it’s preempted. That should stop these ridiculous, frivolous pieces of litigation. That’s just political posture.

6:48 Speaker 3 It is just political bost And you know one of the things, you know, you know downstate I now it’s talking to one of the utilities. Recently, eighty percent of the power that’s provided to Law Island in New York City comes from natural gas, right, so what are you going to do? Are you now going to stop providing

7:06 people natural gas? Is that what you want to do? I mean, okay, great, but what are you going to supply to apply people with work? And you know, look like I’ve always told John, you know, solar and wind are a piece of a puzzle, but they’re not. They’re not the one piece to the puzzle. Right. So you still,

7:26 if you want economic development in New York State, you’re going to need dispatchable power, which means that you flick a switch, you can immediately turn it on. Sometimes the wind doesn’t blow, sometimes the sun doesn’t. Find when companies come into New York, they want dispatchable power. If you’re a pharmaceutical you need dispatchable power because guess what if

7:44 your electricity goes out for a split second, all that inventory you have that might have to be thrown out. And that’s millions upon millions of inventory. And that’s a problem. And when we’re trying to get companies to come into New York State, they look at stuff like this Because a lot of the new companies are tech companies, pharmaceutical companies.

8:04 They need power that’s constant and reliable and dispatuable. Wind and solar are great, but it’s a piece to a puzzle. You still need that dispatchable power.

8:14 Speaker 2 And Paul is even more troubling because New York can sue, Pennsylvania can sue, Illinois can sue, Oregon can sue. So you can have lawsuits all across the country and local and state, state and federal courts going after oil compries.

8:31 So you’ll destroy the oil companies’ ability to function.

8:34 Speaker 1 You make the lawyers rich. Well, we’re at a time. Is there anything else you want to tell the American public this Sunday morning.

8:42 Speaker 3 No, you know, I think we just have to It’s another wake up call. You know, we have to keep our eye on our elected officials. We have to call them out when you know they’re going astray. Because this is the type of thing that at the end, it sounds great, it sounds wonderful, you know, waiver supporting the environment.

9:00 But at the end of the day, the person that’s going to get hurt is the consumer. And that’s what we should be thinking about. Because affordability is a big issue in New York State.

9:08 Speaker 1 Well, the Florida people say, come on down, thank you. Paul Zuber. Thank you Paul Zuber, and we’ll catch up again soon. Thank you, Judge Winber,