NEW YORK — The news took even the most seasoned environmental activists by surprise: after years of review, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that New York State would ban hydraulic fracturing.
“I can barely contain myself,” said Nadia Steinzor, the eastern coordinator for national non-profit Earthworks. “Even though Cuomo recently said he was going to make a clear decision, we were not expecting something as exciting and straightforward as this.”
New York State’s decision comes two years after the state’s Department of Health initiated a review of the possible health impacts of hydraulic fracturing, a process in which thousands of gallons of water is mixed with chemicals and sand and pumped deep into the earth to break up gas-rich shale rock formations. The process has been approved in dozens of states across the U.S. and has often been touted by supporters as an economic boon to struggling regions, including next door in Pennsylvania.
New York’s decision is particularly significant because the Marcellus and Utica shale regions, two of the most productive gas plays in the world, lie underneath the state. While there is some debate over the economic benefits of fracking, there’s little doubt that if New York were to legalize the practice it could have reaped billions in revenue and created hundreds or thousands of jobs. By banning the practice, Cuomo has become one of the first state leaders to endorse the idea that the potential health and environmental impacts of fracking outweigh the potential economic benefits. Vermont is the only other state with a ban on fracking, although Vermont doesn’t sit atop shale.
Activists hope that Cuomo's decision will spark more bans across the country. “The fact that they took such a clear conclusion on these health risks sends a very strong signal that will reverberate nationwide about the risks to water, land and health,” Steinzor said.
New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens recommended the ban Wednesday after reviewing the results of Acting Health Commissioner Howard Zucker’s long-awaited report on the potential health impacts of fracking.
“I asked myself, ‘would I let my family live in a community with fracking?’ The answer is no,” Zucker said in a statement. “I therefore cannot recommend anyone else’s family to live in such a community either.”
The state’s report stopped short of definitively saying that fracking can impact air quality, water quality, and the health of those that live near it. But it said the majority of scientific literature showed there were enough questions about those potential impacts to warrant a ban.
The hydraulic fracturing industry called the ban a political move.
“The governor clearly understands where important constituencies lie on this issue and he’s acknowledged that,” said Frank Macchiarola, executive vice president of government affairs at America’s Natural Gas Alliance, a trade group. “He is a first rate student of politics and he has been his whole life, and every decision he makes is filtered through that political lens.”
New York has had a moratorium on fracking since 2008. The ban won’t be made official until early 2015, but that hasn’t stopped activists from speculating about how it will affect fracking across the country.
“For once a state leader is recognizing the seriousness of this,” said Deborah Goldberg, an attorney at EarthJustice. “I would hope that it would give other political leaders courage to step forward and admit what we know about the health effects, what we don’t know about the health effects, and take a more cautious approach.”
Well, this is great news. As a New Yorker, I'd been very worried about this. I didn't have much faith in Cuomo, but now I'm happy to say I was wrong. It'd be great to see more states follow in our footsteps. But what do you lot think? Was this the right choice? Should we have a nationwide ban on fracking? And will it happen? I'd love a permanent ban in all other states, but how feasible is it given the influence of the gas companies?
