Posted on 12/17/2014 6:17:38 PM PST by Hojczyk
Handing environmentalists a breakthrough victory, New York plans to prohibit fracking for natural gas because of what regulators say are its unexplored health risks and dubious economic benefits.
New York, which overlies part of the gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation that has led to a drilling boom in Pennsylvania and other nearby states, has banned shale gas development since 2008, when the state began an environmental review of the drilling technique also known as hydraulic fracturing.
Wednesday's announcement, though not final, means a ban is all but etched in stone. "Never before has a state with proven gas reserves banned fracking," said Deborah Goldberg, an attorney with Earthjustice, adding that the decision "will give courage to elected leaders throughout the country and world:
Fracking is too dangerous and must not continue." Industry and its supporters expressed outrage at the decision. "We are very disappointed that it appears the governor is unwilling to be a leader and is going to pass the buck at the expense of New Yorkers," said Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute.
"This technology has been used for over 65 years in the United States. It's been demonstrated repeatedly after drilling millions of wells that we're able to do it while protecting the environment and protecting the people."
Environmental Commissioner Joe Martens said Wednesday that he is recommending a ban, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, responded that he would defer to Martens and Acting Health Commissioner Howard Zucker on the decision.
The Department of Environmental Conservation will put out a final environmental impact statement early next year, Martens said, and after that he will issue an order prohibiting fracking.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I went to see my ma on this last Monday night, right on the NY/PA border. We could not get in to a local chain restaurant because all the PA licensed pickup trucks filled the parking lot. All that fracking just south of the Southern Tier and no where to stay, except in NY. On a Monday night. Andrew knows best. Did I mention all the “Repeal the Safe ACT” signs in every other lawn around here?
but Cumo...no, we can't let the little upstate people get a little something out of their land....they can't get some money like the farmers in North Dakota or those land holders in NE PA...nope...Cumo insists that his people remain poor....
Let ‘em all freeze.
Upstate NY could sure use it too, but Cumo would rather pander to Upper Manhattan idiots like Yoko Ono and other scientific illiterates. He's following his political money and screw those peasants in the struggling towns outside Manhattan. He really does not give a crap about those people.
Pennsylvania will be glad for the extra revenues. Hopefully, our incoming Democrat governor doesn't screw the pooch by pushing his extraction taxes that he promised the low info voters during the campaign. I doubt he'll getaway with it.
Communist Cuomo lies today in his public cabinet session on tv and says he doesn`t know what the left is or who they are.
I am sure that the practical impact is that many rural conservatives will each not be seeing thousands of dollars that they otherwise might have. Not a big deal to a liberal condo own in Albany or and EBT card user in Harlem.
My son and I drove through upstate New York on the way to Cooperstown a few years ago. We stopped at Utica, Syracuse and Buffalo. Dead cities with tombs of dead industries occupied by a few people with dead lives.
There are two gas wells in my town—what health risks? The water’s fine, and I recall a politician in a different state actually DRINK the fluid the oilmen use to break the rocks. It probably didn’t taste good, but he wasn’t poisoned. ‘Nuff said.
They’d like to ban internal combustion engine cars, but limiting fuel would eventually have the desired result.
Get the lead outta ammo....
To be true their cause should also ban all products that come from fraced wells otherwise they will just be supporting fracing in other states.
its very sad....normal people getting a chance to change their family tree and Cumo won’t allow them....the money is only good for the rich elites in the tall buildings in NYC....
I have family there and I feel bad for them, plus the casinos were picked today and none of them are in the actual Southern Tier...
The same idiots who protest high gas prices as a conspiracy of big oil.
Russia and Opec cheers.
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