Senators, API Respond to Hydraulic Fracturing Ban
Citing health risks published in a New York State Department of Health report, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has put a ban on hydraulic fracturing for shale development.
As can be imagined, this did not sit well with the oil and gas industry and prompted a reply from API New York State Petroleum Council Executive Director Karen Moreau as well as a pair of New York senators.
“Today’s action by Governor 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,” Moreau said in a statement.
“New York is sitting on a major opportunity to help fuel America’s future. Just next door in Pennsylvania, more than $630 million has been distributed to communities since 2012 – including more than $224 million in just 2014. These once economically poor areas are now thriving. The commonwealth has also benefited from over $2.1 billion in state and local taxes generated by the shale energy industry. Revenue from natural gas production supports road and bridge improvements, water and sewer projects, local housing initiatives, environmental programs and rehabilitation of greenways. We are resolved to continue to fight for these benefits in New York.”
To read Moreau’s full statement, follow this link.
“Governor Cuomo’s decision to ban exploration of our natural gas resources is a punch in the gut to the Southern Tier. The governor has a moral obligation to explain to the people of our region how he will alleviate rural poverty. Families desperately need jobs and economic opportunity, not government handouts. Our young people are leaving in droves because they feel they don’t have a future here. Our rural communities are dying a slow, painful, poverty-stricken death and hope is scarce,” said New York Senator Catharine Young in a statement issued Dec. 17.
“Recovering our abundant natural resources would have brought an economic boom not seen for more than 100 years. It would have brought good paying jobs, relief for our overburdened local taxpayers, tax revenue to improve our schools, funds to fix our local roads and bridges, and income for struggling farmers.”
Follow this link to read Young’s full statement.
And Sen. James L. Seward said, “I have consistently said that any decision concerning hydraulic fracturing in New York State must be based on science and, like many, have awaited the release of the study from the Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Conservation related to drilling. Today the governor moved to ban hydraulic fracturing in New York, and while many disagree and litigation is likely, in light of the governor’s decision, we need to move on to develop a robust economic development strategy that capitalizes on our other resources.”
To read the full report from the New York State Department of Health, visit health.ny.gov.
Tags: API, Fracking, Fracking Ban, Hydaraulic Fracturing, New York
