Where were you when New York banned
fracking? December 17, 2014, has now joined the list of “where were you when”
moments for everyone involved in the fight to end fracking in the U.S.
Based on an extensive review of the
science regarding the health, environmental, and community impacts of
high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking)—a new process being used to shatter
underground rock formations to extract shale gas—New York has banned the
practice. The state’s prohibition on fracking means that New Yorkers will be
spared the harmful effects of industrial shale gas extraction.
Why did New York decide to make this
landmark decision? While reviewing shale gas and fracking processes, the state
identified a number of harms to human and environmental health, as well as
economic issues inflicted by the shale gas extraction industry.
According to New York’s thorough five-year
review, destructive impacts of shale gas extraction could
include:
•
Reduced air quality
•
Polluted drinking water
•
Soil and water contamination
•
Surface water contamination
•
Induced earthquakes
•
“Boomtown economic effects,”
including “increased vehicle traffic, road damage, noise, odor complaints”
•
Climate change.
New York’s detailed analysis stands
in stark contrast to Pennsylvania’s approach. The commonwealth has moved
full-steam ahead despite mounting evidence of the harms caused by this extreme
industrial practice.
In Maryland, fracking isn’t currently
happening, but that may change soon. Governor Martin
O’Malley recently said that, while there is “no
doubt” that shale gas extraction is a threat to public health, the environment,
and important natural resources, the state will put in place regulations that
will manage these harms so they are kept to an “acceptable level.” But if your
tap water has been so polluted you can’t safely drink or bathe in it; if your
air has been poisoned; if your lungs have been harmed or your body
contaminated; if you now live in the shadow of the 24/7 lights, noise, and
stink of a nearby industrial well site and the 1,400 to 4,000 truck trips it
requires, there is no acceptable level.
As revealed in Unsafe &
Unsustainable, a recent analysis of voluntary
“performance standards” purported to make shale gas extraction safe and
sustainable, this is an industry that cannot be made safe. Time and again,
standards put forth suggesting that shale gas extraction can be done safely are
found wanting, the task, unachievable.
The sad reality is that in
Pennsylvania and Maryland, these decisions are being driven by politics, not
science. When politics are taken out of the analysis, the full depth and
breadth of harm from shale gas extraction is honestly and earnestly revealed
and recognized. When the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was asked to render a
ruling about the impacts of shale gas extraction, in a legal forum not driven
by politics, but by law and facts, Chief Justice Ron Castille wrote:
"By any responsible account, the
exploitation of the Marcellus Shale Formation will produce a detrimental effect
on the environment, on the people, their children, and future generations, and
potentially on the public purse, perhaps rivaling the environmental effects of
coal extraction."
We all need pure water, clean air,
and the healthy environment necessary to support and sustain healthy lives, yet
political leaders fail to give environmental rights the same protections they
give other fundamental rights like freedom of speech.
Shale gas extraction is an extreme
example of our right to healthy lives’ being
In fact, in the pursuit of energy,
you can support people and profits simultaneously—just make the energy
industries you advance are the ones that provide truly clean and sustainable
energy options (go to thesolutionsproject.org to learn how your state can be fueled by sustainable energy in
a matter of decades).
Now is the time to recognize that we
all have inherent and indefeasible rights to pure water, clean air, and a
healthy environment. These are rights we must demand for ourselves and protect
for the generations yet to come (learn more about what you can do to demand
your environmental rights through our For The Generations program).
As the Post Carbon Institute’s Drilling Deeper report documents, the life of the shale gas industry will be
but a few decades. We are all better served by investing now in clean energy
options that will fuel our future and protect our air, water, sustainable jobs,
economy, and lives.
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This blog was originally posted on:
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