Fracking to be prohibited in New York State

Posted 9/30/09

ALBANY, NY — During a cabinet meeting in Albany on December 17, Howard Zucker, M.D. the acting New York State health commissioner, said that he could not recommend that hydraulic fracturing should …

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Fracking to be prohibited in New York State

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ALBANY, NY — During a cabinet meeting in Albany on December 17, Howard Zucker, M.D. the acting New York State health commissioner, said that he could not recommend that hydraulic fracturing should be allowed to go forward. Zucker cited several existing studies on fracking and its impacts on human health and said that many of them raised “red flags,” but he said that there were not enough studies, and specifically “longitudinal studies,” that could settle the question with certainty.

Zucker pointed out that when he was a child, second-hand smoke was thought not to be dangerous to nonsmokers; now it is known that the opposite is true. He said that the issue of fracking needs to be addressed with a long-term view.

Zucker quoted a former commissioner of health who said, “We must exercise a sense of concern for future generations.”

Zucker said he faced tough decisions in his medical practice. “How did I decide whether to send a two-year-old child for heart surgery when the decision was complex? When there wasn’t conclusive medical data, I said to myself, ‘What would I do?’”

“I feel the same here. Would I live in a community with [fracking], based on the facts I have now? Would I let my child play in the school field nearby? Or my family drink the water from the tap, or grow vegetables in the soil? After looking at the plethora of reports—as you see behind me and the others in my office—my answer is ‘no.’”

Joe Martens, the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), then said he would move to prohibit fracking in the state next year. He said he would complete the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, which has been open for five years, and he would complete that process in January and issue a finding that would prohibit frakcing.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this was a decision involving Martens and Zucker, and did not involve him.

It was noted that New York has been the only state that has included the Department of Health in deliberations about whether fracking should be allowed to go forward.

There were many critics of the development. Karen Moreau, the executive director of the New York State Petroleum Council, said “Gov. Cuomo acted irresponsibly… putting the state’s economy on a reckless path and ignoring the needs of New York families, economic opportunity, job creation, revenue to the government and America’s need for energy security.

“Today’s action by Gov. Cuomo shows that New York families, teachers, roads and good-paying jobs have lost out to political gamesmanship. This is the wrong direction for New York.”

Katie Brown, writing on the website Energy in Depth, wrote that most of the material Zucker cited in recommendation, “has been either discredited or shown to have exceedingly faulty methodologies.”

On the other side of the debate, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune made the opposite point: “The Sierra Club applauds Governor Cuomo for recognizing what the science has made consistently clear: fracking is a hazard to human health that endangers communities wherever it is allowed. By banning fracking, Gov. Cuomo has set himself apart as a national political leader who stands up for people, and not for the interests of the dirty fuel lobby.”

Cuomo said he expects the ban to spark lawsuits, but some analysts have said drillers are no longer interested in the state.

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