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Fracking ban draws predictable reaction
New York's newly official ban on large-scale hydraulic fracturing drew a predictable response: Fracking critics love it and supporters hate it.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation issued a 43-page "findings statement" Monday afternoon, citing uncertainties about the fracking process while giving a statewide ban the force of law.
The move was lauded by critics of fracking, including New Yorkers Against Fracking, Frack Action and the Sierra Club, which presented Cuomo’s office Monday with a 15-foot scroll filled with thank-you notes scribbled by hundreds of well-wishers.
The American Petroleum Institute’s New York chapter, meanwhile, accused Cuomo of blocking an economic boost for the long-struggling Southern Tier.
The group pointed to a recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study that found no “widespread, systematic” impacts on water supplies from fracking operations. API is a major gas-industry trade association.
The ban will now be closely scrutinized by attorneys for the gas industry, including those at API, which hasn't ruled out taking legal action to try and overturn it.
“The governor’s constrained path maintains the status quo on economic development – costing the Empire State,” API New York executive director Karen Moreau said in a statement.
Actor Mark Ruffalo, an outspoken fracking critic who participated in several anti-fracking protests at the Capitol in recent years, said he’s “proud and thankful to be a New Yorker.” The “Avengers” star lives in Sullivan County.
“Governor Cuomo has set a precedent for the nation by carefully considering the science, which shows a range of public health and environmental harms, and doing what's best for the people, not the special interests of Big Oil and Gas,” Ruffalo, a board member for Americans Against Fracking, said in a statement.
Walter Hang, owner of Ithaca-based database firm Toxics Targeting and an organizer of fracking critics, called the ban the "most important American environmental victory in a generation."
"This tremendous achievement is a model of grassroots environmental action that should now be replicated from coast to coast wherever shale fracking is underway or proposed, Hang said in a statement.
Hydraulic fracturing officially prohibited in New York
(WBNG Binghamton) The state Department of Environmental Conservation has officially prohibited high-volume hydraulic fracturing across New York.
The DEC issued its formal findings statement this week, completing a seven year review.
"We are a state that’s at the heart of the Marcellus Shale formation," said President of Toxics Targeting Walter Hang. " And we value protecting public health and the environment more than we value getting fossil fuels out of the ground."
In its statement, the DEC said, "high-volume hydraulic fracturing poses significant adverse impacts to land, air, water, natural resources and potential significant public health impacts."
Not everyone agrees.
"This is nothing more than a political decision," said President of the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York Daniel Fitzsimmons.
Earlier this month, the United States Environmental Protection Agency released a draft assessment of its latest study on hydro-fracking.
The EPA concluded, "hydraulic fracturing activities in the U.S. are carried out in a way that have not led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources."
Fitzsimmons agrees with the EPA.
"I believe the EPA, the federal government," said Fitzsimmons. "There isn't anything that's brought up where hydraulic fracturing has actually caused any problem with any water aquifers. None."
Hang hopes to meet with representatives with the EPA soon.
"We're gonna try to get EPA to revise that draft," said Hang. "Shale fracking has to be done properly, otherwise it can't be allowed."
Some say fracking can be done properly.
"There's 30 states that are actually drilling and are using hydraulic fracturing," said Fitzsimmons. "This can be done safely we just have to use the proper management practices and do it right."
Did EPA Fracking Study Hit the Mark?
A new EPA study on fracking has those on both sides of the debate digesting the findings.
According to a draft assessment by the agency while fracking procedures have been carried out in a way that have not led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources, there are potential vulnerabilities in the water lifecycle that could impact drinking water. These vulnerabilities include: water withdrawals in areas with low water availability, inadequately cased or cemented wells resulting in below ground migration of gases and liquids, and inadequately treated wastewater discharged into drinking water resources.
Fracking opponents say the study was incomplete since it didn't include data from New York. Those in favor of the practice say the study shows fracking can be done safely.
"We hope that New York will start to look at studies like this and understand that the prevailing view in this nation and around the country and federal government is that this can be done safely," said Scott Kurkoski, attorney for the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York.
"The Department of Environmental Conservation and local county health authorities in Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegheny Counties had documented extensive drinking water impacts associated with oil and gas extraction," said Walter Hang, President of Toxics Targeting.
The Cuomo Administration banned fracking in New York last December.