You are here

Five years later, fracking pause still in place

07/24/13



ALBANY — After five years, hundreds of thousands of public comments and an electorate that remains split on the divisive issue, what has amounted to a moratorium on shale-gas drilling in New York remains in place.

Tuesday marked the five-year anniversary of the state’s official move to put large-scale hydrofracking permit applications on hold, a period of time opponents of the technique say speaks to their strength and advocates say points to a display of political indecision.

It's a milestone no one thought the state would hit when then-Gov. David Paterson first launched an environmental review of large-scale fracking -- a review that was inherited by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration in 2011 and continues today.

“Today's anniversary marks a sad day for progress in NY,” the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York wrote in a statement Tuesday. “We truly hope our leaders in Albany will agree with our nation's leaders that it is time to move forward with natural gas development.”

Over the past five years, the battle over hydrofracking has grown from a little-watched debate to one that has expanded all over the state and country.

Many environmental and anti-fracking groups, citing the potential for damage to water supplies and community character, have called on the state to either ban shale-gas drilling or implement a lengthier moratorium.

Proponents of tapping the gas-rich Marcellus Shale say Cuomo is missing an opportunity to boost the economy of the long-stagnant Southern Tier, particularly in Binghamton and Elmira.

Paterson officially put high-volume fracking on pause in New York on July 23, 2008, when he ordered the Department of Environmental Conservation to conduct an in-depth environmental review of the technique and craft permitting guidelines.

That order came the same day he signed a law increasing the maximum size of a spacing unit -- the area that can be serviced by a gas well -- to 640 acres, a change necessary for using the type of larger-scale fracking needed to effectively extract gas from shale.

“Natural gas exploration has the potential to increase domestic supplies of natural gas, create jobs, expand the tax base and benefit the upstate economy,” Paterson said in a statement at the time. “My administration is committed to working with the public and local governments to ensure that if the drilling goes forward, it takes place in the most environmentally responsible way possible.”

The review, known as the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, has continued -- and grown -- ever since, attracting thousands of public comments and hordes of protests ever since.

Last year, Health Commissioner Nirav Shah was asked to review the DEC’s work before a final fracking decision is made; despite saying in January his work would be completed in “a few weeks,” Shah’s review remains incomplete.

Isaac Silberman-Gorn, an organizer for Citizen Action of New York, a group opposed to fracking, said the past five years have made it clear that New York does not need to open its doors to the gas industry.

“Five years ago, Governor Paterson recognized the danger to our health and water that fracking posed and instituted a statewide moratorium,” he said in a statement. “Since then, science has proved the process to be even more dangerous than imagined.”

The Joint Landowners Coalition, a statewide group of pro-drilling landowners looking to lease their land for gas production, knocked the state for its “inability to move forward,” particularly as neighboring Pennsylvania has long opened its portion of the Marcellus to drillers.

The group is currently preparing a lawsuit against the Cuomo administration, essentially arguing that the extended moratorium has amounted to an unconstitutional “taking” of their property rights.