Tag: hydraulic fracturing

The State That’s Prioritizing Residents’ Safety Over Natural Gas Profits

Posted on by robbie

New York is telling the oil and gas industry to get out.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration recently announced that hydraulic fracturing has been banned in the state, as the process “could contaminate the state’s air and water and pose inestimable public-health risks,” the New York Times reports.
“I cannot support high volume hydraulic fracturing in the great state of New York,” says Howard Zucker, the acting commissioner of health.
Fracking, which involves shooting a highly pressurized mixture of water and chemicals into shale formations to release natural gases, is currently driving a drilling boom across the country and is a big reason why your gas is so cheap.
MORE: Meet the 70-Year-Old Lone Star Who Polices Fracking Waste
New York has long been resistant to the process. The state already had a de-facto moratorium on fracking for several years, and as we reported in July, New York’s top court upheld Home Rule, which gave municipalities the right to apply its zoning laws to oil and gas wells. The latest decision is just a final blow to the state’s natural gas industry.
Mother Jones notes that New York isn’t the first state to ban fracking — that honor belongs to Vermont, which banned it in 2012 (but since it doesn’t have natural gas, the move was mostly symbolic). Because New York sits on the gas-rich Marcellus shale formation, “this is the first state ban with real significance,” Kate Sinding, a senior attorney in New York for the Natural Resources Defense Council, tells the publication.
Proponents of the process cite its potential to bolster the economy and create tens of thousands of jobs. That’s why, as Capital New York reports, Gov. Cuomo is already anticipating “a ton of lawsuits” in response to the decision.
Still, it’s a major victory for our health and the health of the planet. Actor and prominent eco-activist Mark Ruffalo (who recently wrote a Huffington Post article about the many dangers of fracking) posted an Instragram video about the decision and thanked Cuomo, Zucker and Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner Joe Martens for their work.
He also gave a shout-out to “all the beautiful, dedicated people on the anti-fracking movement who used science, their guts, their brains and their hearts to make this day a reality.”
Let’s hope this this movement catches on country-wide.

DON’T MISS: Watch How This Little Town Stood Up Against a Gas Giant

The New Scientific Discovery That Catches Polluters Red-Handed

Posted on by robbie

For the first time, we can play gotcha! with the fracking industry.
Researchers have developed a new tool that can identify the chemical “fingerprints” left behind hydraulic fracturing (fracking) waste, Think Progress reports. Fracking involves shooting an absurd amount of water, chemicals and sand to extract natural gas and oil from shale formations.
We’ve mentioned that the booming but controversial drilling process has been linked to a variety of health and environmental problems — from creating millions of barrels of toxic waste a day to causing earthquakes, as well as polluting the air, our water supply and our bodies.
MORE: Meet the 70-Year-Old Lone Star Who Polices Fracking Waste
In the just-released study (published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology) scientists have traced two elements — boron and lithium — that are found in shale formations and that also show up in contaminated environments due to fracking fluids.
This development is important because fracking companies can no longer sweep spills under the rug or point fingers at other causes of pollution, meaning that they can now be held accountable for the clean-up or be forced to pay fines.
“So if there is contamination, we can tell the source,” researcher and Duke University geochemist Avner Vengosh tells the McClatchy News Service. “Once you see this kind of water in the environment, you will be able to say, ‘Yes, this is fracking.’”
Nathaniel Warner of Dartmouth College, lead author of the study, says “This new technology can be combined with other methods to identify specific instances of accidental releases to surface waters in areas of unconventional drilling. It could benefit industry as well as federal and state agencies charged with monitoring water quality and protecting the environment.”
DON’T MISS: Watch How This Little Town Stood Up Against a Gas Giant

Watch How This Little Town Stood Up Against a Gas Giant

Posted on by robbie

Three years ago, the town of Dryden, New York was at the center of a classic David and Goliath tale where concerned locals took on Norse Energy Corp. (a natural gas company that wanted to drill the land underneath the community) and prevailed.
Dryden, a town with a population of only 14,000, was one of the first communities in New York to ban hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — a process that shoots a mixture of water and chemicals into rock formations to release natural gases. The controversial process is driving a drilling boom across America; opponents claim that has devastating impacts, ranging from environmental damage to significant health concerns.
Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest law organization dedicated to environmental issues, released this new short film (below) that takes a look back at this inspirational story, showing galvanized locals picking up phones and going door-to-door — ultimately gathering 1,600 petition signatures (that’s one in 10 people in the town) against fracking. Dryden officials unanimously voted on a ban in August 2011.
MORE: The ‘No-Brainer’ Investment That Creates Jobs and Saves the Environment
Norse Energy slapped the town with a lawsuit, arguing that under state law, Dryden didn’t have the right to restrict drilling. However, after two rounds of court, it was declared that New York’s mining and drilling law doesn’t trump the authority of local governments to control land use.
Since this decision, more than 170 communities in New York have joined Dryden and passed similar bans or moratoriums on fracking. The movement has spread across state lines and now includes communities in California, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas and Ohio.
As Marie McRae, one of the Dryden locals spurred to action, says in the film, “My voice by itself carries very little weight, but when I join my voice with my immediate neighbors, with the larger community, that I live in, we all together have a voice that’s loud enough for our elected officials to hear.”
DON’T MISS: How One State Is Making It Easier and Cheaper to Use Wind Power
The film not only shows what happens when people band together for an important cause, but reminds us viewers that the fight is not over yet. Although Dryden’s ban remains on the books, the case is heading to New York’s highest court in spring 2014.
Only time — and the court — will determine the ultimate winner of this battle.
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