The issue of hydraulic fracturing has become a political football in New York State, as big energy companies hungrily eye a potential bonanza upstate.
Also known simply as “fracking,” the process consists of injecting water, sand and chemicals into the ground at high pressure to release natural gas from deep underground reserves.
Several recent television documentaries have revealed the dangers of fracking, including the contamination of ground water. Scenes from the documentaries have shown people lighting their tap water with a match. So far, the federal government has failed to regulate the fracking process.
The organization Frack Action says that pressure on Congress has been mounting to stop the practice, and that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should independently look at the practice, since the long-term effects of fracking remain unknown.
“The natural gas industry has been fighting congressional action and has been doing everything they can to retain their exemption to the Clean Water Act,” the organization said. “At the same time, they have been aggressively expanding their operations, presumably to take advantage of the current lack of federal regulation.”
In August, over 50 grassroots organizations in New York State took a position supporting a statewide ban on fracking. However, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced that he supports temporarily lifting a ban on fracking.
Several politicians have taken a negative stance on fracking. State Sen. Tony Avella said, “All it takes is one bad incident, and then you have a disaster on your hands. One incident could harm the water for millions of New Yorkers.”
Concerns about fracking have become particularly strong over the last few weeks after the earthquakes that occurred in New York State. Last week’s 5.8 Richter scale earthquake was felt from Virginia to New England, and in New York City, several buildings were evacuated. A second earthquake measuring 2.9 also hit the region.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, earthquakes incurred by human activity have already been documented in a few locations in the nation, caused by the injection of fluids into deep wells for waste disposal and secondary recovery of oil and the use of reservoirs for water supplies.
“Governor Cuomo and our legislators must act to stop fracking’s devastating impacts on our drinking water,” said Eric Weltman, senior organizer for Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy group calling for a national and statewide ban on fracking. “The effects fracking can have on public health and the environment are just too costly for New York to bear,” he added.