New York’s “ban” on fracking has predictably ended up in a kind of regulatory Catch 22. The state regulatory agency has updated its environmental regulations that could be used to permit HVHF (horizontal shale) wells, but it has not updated the regulations that would govern the drilling of such wells. Moreover, the state regulators have said they do not intend to permit any such wells (that they have no regulations for).
The Findings Statement will say what they said it would say: “No Fracking permits in New York.” Because:
1. There are no Fracking regulations, and
2. Nothing worth Fracking, and
3. The simulacrum if not the reality of a frack ban is politically popular.
What’s a fractavist to do ? Be thankful for what we got.
Respond to the DEC immediately or sign onto a group response. We sent in over 200,000 responses to the last draft SGEIS, and I challenge you to find one that the DEC embraced. The fact that they ignored the preponderance of the comments and stuck to industry drafted guidelines is indicative of how flawed the SGEIS remains.
Why no changes to the SGEIS ? My guess is that they first decided to not permit HVHF wells, then simply did not bother to further amend the SGEIS - that they had no intention of using. Bureaucratic indolence.
Pointedly, the DEC never finalized its HVHF drilling regs. - and this too is telling. In hindsight, it signaled their clear intention to not issue HVHF permits.
OK by me. What we were working for is no shale wells. Not the most refined regs for shale wells that we didn’t want.
This leaves Fracking politicized with a hair trigger: open to the regulatory whim of the next Governor. Which is what Dean Skelos got paid for - to block a regulatory ban.
This makes Fracking the new gubernatorial political litmus test. Which is probably OK by Governor Cuomo. And any viable Democratic candidate.
The only people that want Fracking in New York are a few Fracking lobbyists and people that want to secede from New York. Let the Secessionists be The Designated Village Idiots and that leaves the Fracking lobbyists and a few fracking demagogues in Albany.
We can deal with them in our way.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Governor Cuomo, Please allow us a FRACK FREE AMERICA.???..MANY THANKS, Elizabeth Carbone…
The only reason Cuomo banned fracking was political expediency. As reported here at No Fracking Way, fracking in NY does not make economic sense. So he could ban it, knowing that what his pro-fracking supporters may say in public, in reality they weren’t going to drill. By banning fracking, he also looks good to his pro-enviroment supporters.
It was a win-win for him that didn’t cost him anything.
Sure seems that way now
KUDOS to Governor Cuomo….Make your DADDY Proud….
We do a lot of preaching to the choir, seems like. Anybody up for trying to get an anti-fracking table at the State Fair this August? (Bet we could get some free live music for it!) There could be handouts available about various leaks, spills, and catastrophes. Quotes from certain politicians could be in large dialogue bubbles over life-sized cutouts of them, standing near the table? Large jar samples of frack water there as props? Maybe a voter registration table should be nearby? I don’t know what these cost.
Lindsay
The final 2015 NYS SGEIS only addresses high volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF). The glossary of this SGEIS defines HVHF as: “The stimulation of a well using 300,000 gallons or more of water as the base fluid in fracturing fluid. It looks like oil and gas drilling using less than 300,000 gallons of fluid will be regulated by the 1992 GEIS. But that 23-year-old document only addresses drilling that uses less than 80,000 gallons of fluid. Therefore, it is unclear (at least to me), what guidelines will regulate the environmental impact of drilling that uses volumes between 80,000 and 300,000 gallons (i.e., 220,000 gallons of chemically-laced water). Although Chip Northrup pointed this out three years ago (see “Grisanti’s Fracking Loopholes” in “No Fracking Way,” April 10, 2012, ), as far as I’m aware, environmental and public health concerns raised by this 300,000 gallon-limited fracking have received little to no attention by the NYS government and by environmental groups. I understand the reasons that HVHF has had to receive center stage but please, let’s at least talk about potential dangers associated with so-called low volume drilling.
We Need to BAN ALL FRACKING..PERIOD..END on TUNE….
Agreed Elizabeth. However, banning all fracking is easier said than done as long as local governments think that the individual’s right to drill on one’s own land trumps the greater good.
Well I Imagine that I think BIG…but know that you are Correct, SAD as that may be…