New York State Ban On Fracking Made Official

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โ€œAfter years of exhaustive research and examination of the science and facts, prohibiting high-volume hydraulic fracturing is the only reasonableย alternative.โ€

Those were the words many activists in New York never expected to hear from Joe Martens, head of the stateโ€™s Department of Environmental Conservation, but they were included in a statement released today as New York made the stateโ€™s ban on frackingย official.

This step in the process was expected after the release in May of the massive 1,448 page report on fracking that was seven years in the making which also was preceded by the Cuomo administration announcing they planned to ban fracking back inย December.

While there had been some mentions in the media that the recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report on fracking and drinking water contamination might cause trouble for the Cuomo administration, it appears that trouble was limited to predictable Republican statements about Cuomoโ€™s decision being based on โ€œcontroversial scientificย studies.โ€

As explained in detail in this DeSmog piece by Sharon Kelly, if you read the EPA report and didnโ€™t just rely on headlines in the New York Post to get your information, the report actually provides support for New Yorkโ€™s decision for a frackingย ban.

New York now is the only state with known large amounts of shale deposits that has enacted a ban on fracking. In the past week, the state has also released a new energy plan with goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% (below 1990 levels) by 2030 and 80% by 2050 and to produce 50% of its electricity from renewables byย 2030.

As the oil industry prepares to roll out fracking technology around the globe, New York has taken an important step in showing the world what a โ€œreasonable alternativeโ€ looks like.

As DeSmogBlog concluded in our 2011 report Fracking the Future, the risks to our water, health and climate our simply too great to continue this fossilย folly.

mikulka color
Justin Mikulka is a research fellow at New Consensus. Prior to joining New Consensus in October 2021, Justin reported for DeSmog, where he began in 2014. Justin has a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University.

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