New York Bans Fracking

New York state performed an environmental safety study on natural gas fracking before deciding whether to allow the enhanced recovery method to continue operating in the state.  Six years ago the state suspended hydraulic fracturing until research could be completed. For informed commentators, it was no surprise that the New York's Department of Health cited potential environmental and health hazards as justification for banning the technology. Governor Andrew Cuomo followed his department's advice. The report, which incorporates findings from multiple studies around the country, found seven major problems with hydraulic fracking:

1. Methane emissions from fracking operations are high and have been linked to asthma and other respiratory aliments.  A study in southern Pennsylvania, an epicenter of fracking, found 39% of residents within a kilometer of a fracking site developed upper-respiratory problems;
2. Fracking poses dangers to underground water acquifers. In southern Appalachia, methane was found in 82% of drinking water samples and the concentration was six times higher in homes close to natural gas wells.  Ethane was twenty-three times higher in homes close to fracking sites;
3. Seismic activity can be triggered by fracking operations which lubricate and pressure existing faults.  The phenomenon of fracking-induced earth tremors has been documented in Oklahoma and Texas;
4. Fracking contributes to global warming by releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere;
5. Soil is contaminated by spilled waste products including radioactive wastes such as radon;
6. Communites adjacent to fracking wells report problems with noise and odor pollution.  Industrial activity related to fracking contribute to large increases in vehicular accidents;
7. A study in rural Colorado examined over 120,000 between 1996 and 2009, years in which fracking operations boomed, finding a 30% increase in congenital heart conditions. Births closest to well sites also had a 100% increased change of neurological damage.

Despite all of these serious public health impacts, industry-owned politians wasted no time blasting the Governor for his prudent decision. Health Department commissioner Howard Zucker said he would not allow his family to drink tap water in an area where fracking operations are conducted. New York joins France and other European countries that have already banned hydraulic fracturing as a method of oil and gas recovery.