Hydraulic Fracturing, otherwise known as
fracking has been a controversial topic dividing the United States. The pros of
fracking include an influx in jobs and economic growth. One well can last 20-40
years; this tends to create "boom and bust" towns in which there is
an initial increase in economic prosperity then decrease as the well becomes
inactive. The cons of fracking include habitat destruction because of the roads
built to reach the drills, the use of millions of gallons of water, watershed/aquifer
contamination and health effects. In August 2011 local lobbyists went to the
highest court in New York, the Court of Appeals, to get fracking banned in
Dryden, NY. This ban has been bombarded by gas lobbyists ever since its passing
and now the state is deciding whether or not to uphold it. Mr. Cuomo, the governor
of New York, commented that fracking would bring in revenue, but that health
risks had to be taken into account. The Department of health has been working
on determining the health effects of fracking for a year, but no report has
been published. Both sides of the fracking controversy are frustrated by the
lack of publications by the Department of Health and wish to know the findings.
One hypothesis for the delay mentioned in the New York Times article about this
topic in Dryden (the link is posted below) is that New York legislatures do not
want to take a firm positive or negative stance on the topic for fear of
loosing NY voters. Mr. Cuomo is up for election next year and it makes sense
that he would postpone this dividing issue until after his campaign for
reelection. In a Siena College Poll 43% of voters statewide opposed fracking,
while 38% approved of the method. This narrow margin would explain why Mr.
Cuomo might advice the Department of Health to take as much time as it wants to
conduct a survey of the health effects of fracking. I think Mr. Cuomo has an
easy decision to make, hydraulic fracturing uses tons of water to get energy in
an unsustainable and damaging way, it would make much more sense to invest in
sustainable energy.
he link to the
A video about what fracking is and its implications:
