The Latest on Fracking in Three States: PA, NJ, NY

New York State Senator Greg Ball describing fracking in PA and calling for moratorium.

Posted by: Noël Jones

Now that the drinking water contamination resulting from the process of fracking for natural gas has been raised in the mainstream consciousness, and Ian Urbina of The New York Times has reported in his recent article that the U.S. Geological Survey has cut its estimates of natural gas reserves in the Marcellus Shale, we are seeing very different actions taken by politicians in different states who share the Delaware River watershed, where tens of thousands of wells are slated to be drilled in the next 20 years. As opposition among citizens, environmental groups and certain elected officials grows, the natural gas industry has bought ad time on the cable news networks, touting the
benefits of natural gas, and encouraging residents to demand more production--even to produce cars that run on natural gas.

So how are PA, NJ, and NY handling this? 

Well, New York passed a moratorium on drilling last year under Gov. Patterson that was meant to stay in place until the EPA finished their cumulative impact study, which is due for completion in 2013. But the state's new governor has vowed to overturn the moratorium. Above is a video of NY State Senator, Greg Ball, who recently visited our state and saw the devastation that fracking has wrought for residents of Dimock, PA (just two hours north of us) and is calling on colleagues in the NY Senate to uphold the moratorium.

So if we're New York's example of why not to allow fracking, you'd think that we'd have a moratorium in Pennsylvania too, right? Wrong. Gov. Tom Corbett, who accepted over $800,000 from the natural gas industry during his campaign, has stripped DEP officers of their ability to give out fines (they must all be funneled through Harrisburg and approved by one of only two officers that head the department), has done everything in his power to fast-track new drilling, and even went so far as to suggest to trustees of Edinboro University in Lancaster, PA, who were upset about his recent budget cuts to education, that they could fill the gap by allowing natural gas drillers to drill on campus. That's right--you heard me--on campus.

And what about New Jersey? According to Douglass Brill's article for the Express-Times, Gov. Christie, in his infinite wisdom today, VETOED a statewide ban on fracking that the NJ State Assembly had gotten passed. Now the question is whether they will override his veto.

Please make it a regular part of your week, to click on one of the links to state government on the right of this blog's home page, to write a quick email to your representative or senator to call for a halt to all new natural gas drilling until the EPA study is complete. Set a repeat calendar reminder on your computer, and toss off an email a week until we win! This is our health, our property values, and our way of life we are fighting for. Nobody is going to fight it for us. The drillers do not care about us--they are just getting rich. We each have to take responsibility to fight this regularly and consistently. Only a large amount of public will can succeed in pressuring our lawmakers to ban fracking or risk not getting re-elected.