The great gas divide

Election impacts in NY & PA

By FRITZ MAYER

NEW YORK & PENNSYLVANIA — The elections on November 2 brought a new political landscape to the Upper Delaware Valley and beyond, which will likely have an impact on the way gas drilling unfolds in the region.

In general, the results in Pennsylvania tend to favor those who support aggressive drilling with limited additional government regulations, while the results in New York tend to support stronger environmental protections regarding gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

The governor’s race in Pennsylvania was won by Republican Tom Corbett. Corbett has said he is opposed to a severance tax, which would leave Pennsylvania the only state in the country with significant shale drilling that has no such tax. Corbett has also said he would end the moratorium, imposed by Governor Edward Rendell, on gas wells on about 700,000 acres of state forest land.

Corbett’s opponent, Democrat Dan Oronato, had said he supported the moratorium and the severance tax. He campaigned on the promise that he would use the money raised from the severance tax to help communities pay to mitigate some of the negative impacts of drilling.

The governor’s race in New York was won decisively by Democrat Andrew Cuomo. While some critics have said he has not been very forthcoming about his drilling stance, his campaign website says Cuomo will ensure that “health and environmental risks are comprehensively studied before natural gas exploration in New York’s Marcellus Shale formation occurs.”

Cuomo’s opponent, Republican Carl Paladino, had a clearly different view. His website said: “If New York City taxpayers are concerned about their water table, perhaps that warrants more study. But, generally, we’ve studied this to death. Enough delays. Ohio and Pennsylvania are both allowing this extraction, creating tens of thousands of jobs, reaping bountiful financial benefits—and laughing at New York State for our inability to get our act together on this vital issue.”

In New York, the candidate with the most ardent anti-fracking position was Democrat Eric Schneiderman, who was elected to the post of attorney general. He said during his campaign that fracking had not been proven safe, and his website said, “He will litigate to block the use of unsafe and unproven technologies like hydrofracking to protect against dangerous drilling accidents.”

Schneiderman’s opponent, Dan Donovan, who said that fracking was safe, lost the election.

In the 10th Congressional District in Pennsylvania, which stretches from Honesdale to Dimock and beyond, the contrast is more subtle, with both candidates saying that drilling must be safe.

But incumbent Democrat Chris Carney, who lost the race, had this on his site: “Chris is very concerned about the reports of contaminated water in our community. He supports the Environmental Protection Agency’s review of the hydraulic fracturing process so that we can determine the effects of the fracking process and what additional federal steps are needed to ensure the safety of our water.”

Republican Tom Marino’s website said: “We must increase our energy independence by supporting development of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale—a clean-burning, natural gas resource. I also believe we need a balanced energy policy that includes safe, nuclear power, clean coal, responsible offshore drilling and renewable energy.”

In New York’s 22nd Congressional District, which stretches from Poughkeepsie to Ithaca and includes all of Sullivan County, the incumbent, Democrat Maurice Hinchey, who held onto his seat, has been very aggressive in calling for safety and regulation of the industry. Hinchey cosponsored the “Fracking Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act (FRAC), which would compel gas drilling companies to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act and would also compel them to reveal the ingredients of fracking fluids.

Hinchey’s opponent, Republican George Phillips, opposed the FRAC Act. His website said, “New York State already has some of the most stringent environmental protection measures in the nation and we have engaged in a lengthy, thorough process of research and an extended period of public comment. There is no reason that this matter cannot be handled on a state level.”

Across the country, pro-fossil fuel constituents see the results of the election as a call to drill. Raymond Keating, chief economist of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, said, “Candidates in several races in states like Pennsylvania and New York discovered that natural gas drilling turned out to be a major election issue this year. It’s no surprise that the economy was on the minds of all voters who are interested in creating jobs and a vibrant American economy.”

He also said the FRAC Act is “dead.”