New York's Fracking Ban Suffocates New Yorkers

RCM ^ | 06/04/2013 | By Diana Furchtgott-Roth

[SeekAndFind]

Upstate New York is in economic crisis. And New York's moratorium on hydrofracturing, or "fracking," is impeding recovery.

In New York City, private sector wages grew by 4 percent in real terms between 2000 and 2011. But in New York State's Southern Tier, in counties such as Broome, Chemung, and Tioga, wages declined by 1%.

Over the past decade, employment in New York City has grown by 9 percent. But in Binghamton and its surrounding suburbs, in Broome County, employment has declined by 11 percent over the same period. Elmira, Chemung County, has seen a decline of 8%.

These counties in the Southern Tier are among the 28 New York counties sitting above the Marcellus Shale, a vast subterranean expanse of rock shared by Pennsylvania and New York that is estimated to contain up to 489 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Pennsylvania has allowed companies to use fracking to extract natural gas. Usually, this method is combined with horizontal drilling (in which the drill turns off the vertical to extend horizontally through the rock formation, allowing more of it to be tapped). Today, many Pennsylvania counties are bustling with this "unconventional drilling."

Although New York once allowed hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, the state placed a moratorium on the technique in 2010. This year, the state government will either end that moratorium or make it permanent. While New York ponders, drilling companies hold their pre-2010 leases on land, uncertain whether they'll ever be able to use the resources beneath.

Opponents of fracking say that it pollutes the water and harms agriculture. A group of New York City chefs, called Chefs for the Marcellus, opposes fracking. "You shop at the farmer's market and eat at farm-to-table restaurants - but what if all that was threatened by fracking?" the group asks.

[Species8472]

“Let the bastards freeze in the dark”

[steelyourfaith]

"The Empire State Divide" is a video from Karen Moreau (of the Foundation for Land and Liberty) about New York's environmental ban on hydraulic fracking and the struggles of the people who presently own the land. A comparison is made to Pennsylvania where fracking is legal, the land owners are flourishing, and America is benefiting from tapping the energy resources.

The Empire State Divide - Part 1 - Ruins of the Hudson River
The Empire State Divide - Part 2 - A House Divided
The Empire State Divide - Part 3 – A Tale of Two States

Karen presented her short video (along with other people who shared videos on other free market issues) at the Grand Old Picture Show held in Tampa coincidental with the RNC convention last summer.

[Nik Naym]

“Let hillary loving new york state rot away”

SCREW YOU!

If you had any ability to read you would see that this opposition comes from New York CITY.

The regions where the drilling would take place are nowhere near NYC and didn’t support Hillary.

I don’t suppose you are smart enough to read a map.

[Nik Naym]

“The people who live upstate are too poor and too few to have any influence.”

Correct. Yet Freepers continue to spout off about how we deserve this crap.

I am getting very close to taking my sorry assed New York self (and my monthly donation) somewhere else.

I am getting sick of hearing it from the ignorant arseholes that have infested this place.