When I visit New York City, I often get a headache from the pollution. I notice that the governor hasn’t banned the use of cars. In fact, of all the things that cause pollution in New York State, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has chosen to ban hydraulic fracturing, the process used to extract oil and natural gas from shale rock deep in the earth.
The decision came after a six-year moratorium on fracking in the Marcellus Shale formation upstate. State health officials decided that fracking could contaminate the air and water and pose a threat to public health.
First of all, it’s important to understand that Cuomo has not banned fracking as he claims. He has in fact banned all oil and gas drilling activity in the state. In a report used to justify the ban, state health officials fretted over fracking’s purported dangers, but never distinguished how fracking differs from conventional drilling in terms of its environmental impact.
The report mentions water contamination and surface spills. In fact, the water contamination that has occurred at fracking projects in other states has been the result of poor wastewater disposal or failed well casings – the tubes that are designed to project the water table as the drill bit passes through. These aren’t problems unique to fracking, and most states in which drilling is common already have regulations to address them.
The report also cites concern about an increase in earthquakes. While this matter has been studied separately, even the author of that independent study called for more research on the issue.
Given the moratorium that was already in place, the ban does little to hurt energy companies directly. But it may encourage more cities and states to jump on the ban wagon. The industry’s long-standing public relations failures in addressing public concern about fracking are coming to roost.
That's already happened in Texas. Just last month, the north Texas town of Denton banned fracking within its city limits. Denton sits on the edge of the Barnett Shale formation. A few miles to the west, in the same formation, the process we now know as fracking was perfected over an 18-year period beginning in 1980.
The difference in Denton’s ban was that it resulted not from vague studies about “public health” but from residents’ anger at drilling companies’ disregard for the local quality of life. Companies argued that since they had the right to drill, they could do so any way they wanted. They could drill next to parks and schools, they could drill adjacent to people’s homes, and they didn’t care if the process was disruptive.
Residents of Denton are not opposed to drilling for oil and natural gas, they’re opposed to it being done with a callous disregard for their community and their quality of life.
In Texas, the ban now faces legal challenges from state regulators and the oil industry, and most predictions are that the ban won’t stand. New York, too, can look forward to years of litigation over the issue, during which time it may have to actually provide legal proof of the health threats it claims are unique to fracking.
Of course, while it bans fracking, New York will undoubtedly continue to belch forth pollutants from the streets of Manhattan and other cities. Neither the governor nor the public health officials whose studies were used to support the ban have taken steps to lessen the state’s consumption of fossil fuels.
In fact, it may even double down on its ongoing hypocrisy of mooching the benefits of cheap energy produced by shale fracking in neighboring Pennsylvania, which has shown far more pragmatism in its energy policies than Cuomo has with his political pandering.
The Marcellus is primarily a natural gas formation, and natural gas prices remain depressed. By banning fracking, New Yorkers have basically assured that additional supplies won’t be coming to market and depressing prices further. Cuomo may have inadvertently provided price supports for the very energy companies he’s trying to keep out of the state. In theory, all his constituents ultimately could pay more to heat their homes than they would have if he had lifted the moratorium.
Either way, New Yorkers will continue to enjoy lower prices for gasoline and continue to switch from heating oil to cheaper natural gas – both of which are the product of fracking. Cuomo’s decision to ban fracking simply underscores the point that New Yorkers remain blissfully oblivious to the tradeoffs they make every day when it comes to energy. No wonder my head hurts when I go there.
