From the Newsroom: How Fracking Saved the Buffalo Bills

In the year of our Lord 2014, there were intense behind-the-scenes schemes, manipulations and shenanigans to determine who would purchase the Buffalo Bills. Longtime owner Ralph Wilson died on March 25.

I’m a die-hard member of Bills Mafia, and there was a very real fear the team would leave New York State, possibly for Toronto.

Musician Jon Bon Jovi denies it, but many believed he was part of an ownership group hoping to move the Bills to Canada.

Ironically, another bidder was an American billionaire. That businessman asked one of my closest family friends, Michael Caputo, to quietly launch a public relations campaign to stop Bon Jovi’s bid. I was proud to join him.

Caputo transformed "Livin' on a Prayer" into a full-fledged strategy. Bars stopped playing Bon Jovi music. Media coverage exploded. Bills fans rallied. The campaign worked.

Then public relations manna fell from heaven.

An "organic" fan group emerged to oppose Bon Jovi. Originally called "12th Man Thunder," it was sued by Texas A&M University over the name.

The group's leader, Chucky Sonntag, a cancer survivor and double amputee, was about the worst person imaginable for a university to bully.

As Erie County Comptroller, I fired off letters to Texas, calling then-Texas A&M President Mark Hussey "ridiculous and classless." The controversy generated national media attention and helped fuel the campaign to stop Bon Jovi.

The plan worked. Until it didn't.

Jon Bon Jovi failed to buy the Buffalo Bills.

But so did the billionaire who tasked Caputo with blocking Bon Jovi..

His name was Donald J. Trump, now President of the United States.

Who had enough money to outbid Donald Trump for an NFL franchise?

On Oct. 8, 2014, businessman Terrence M. Pegula purchased the Buffalo Bills for approximately $1.4 billion.

Western New York breathed a collective sigh of relief. Pegula had already purchased the Buffalo Sabres in 2011 and committed to keeping both franchises in Buffalo.

It was an all-cash purchase and, at the time, the highest price ever paid for an NFL franchise.

So where did Terry Pegula get the money to outbid Donald Trump?

Fracking.

Pegula made billions in the very industry Albany Democrats banned in New York.

In 1983, he founded East Resources and developed natural gas in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale. In 2010, he sold the company for $4.7 billion.

As far as I can determine, this is perhaps the most significant economic benefit New York has received from fracking despite banning it. Pegula earned his fortune in Pennsylvania, then brought that wealth home to purchase two professional sports franchises that continue generating jobs, tourism and economic activity throughout Western New York.

Think about the irony.

The same industry New York Democrats condemn kept both the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres in New York.

The irony grows even deeper.

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul approved approximately $850 million in taxpayer funding for the new Highmark Stadium, scheduled to open this year.

The billionaire whose wealth came from an industry New York outlawed received one of the largest public stadium subsidies in American history.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania continues reaping billions in economic activity while New York sits on one of the nation's richest natural gas formations and refuses to develop it.

New York forfeits billions in investment, thousands of jobs, and hundreds of millions in annual tax revenue while our neighbor across the border enjoys the benefits. That's one reason South Shore Press sent Senior Reporter Robert Chartuk to the Southern Tier to compare the two states. Pennsylvania embraced fracking. New York banned it.

The contrast speaks for itself.

At the same time, Albany Democrats have declared war on virtually every aspect of natural gas.

Not only did they prohibit fracking, they are steadily eliminating natural gas from new construction.

The All-Electric Buildings Act effectively bans natural gas hookups in newly constructed homes and buildings seven stories or less. Beginning Jan. 1, 2029, the prohibition expands to buildings taller than seven stories.

Now consider one final irony.

The new Buffalo Bills stadium requires a heating system to keep its natural grass field around 60 degrees and prevent snow and ice from accumulating during Western New York winters.

What energy source was selected?

Natural gas.

The very fuel New Yorkers increasingly cannot install in their own new homes will heat the playing field inside the taxpayer-funded stadium built for the billionaire whose fortune came from an industry New York outlawed.

That, in one story, perfectly captures New York's energy policy.

Progressive Democrats prohibit the industry that creates billions in wealth, celebrate the billionaire it produced in another state, subsidize his stadium with taxpayer dollars, then rely on natural gas to keep the football field playable while telling New Yorkers they shouldn't use it in their own newly built homes.

Rules for thee, but not for me.