Fracking in New York Faces Death by a Thousand Local Bans
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo inherited a state-wide moratorium on fracking when he took office, and he has spent the past three years deciding whether to lift the ban. But whatever decision he makes won't have nearly the same weight now that the state's highest court has ruled cities and towns can block fracking inside their borders.
Fracking is already outlawed in lots of places across the U.S. But unlike Vermont, for example, which became the first state to ban fracking in 2012, New York's action is important because the state actually has something worth fracking. With the Marcellus Shale formation stretching along the southern portion of the state, New York has some of the richest natural gas deposits in the nation. Estimates suggest the stuff trapped under the Empire State would be enough to meet total U.S. consumption for six years. Vermont, on the other hand, has almost no natural gas; the ban is purely a political statement.
The Marcellus Shale stretches across a number of states, but the story of its development is starkly different in each one. In Pennsylvania, natural gas production has risen by more than 1,000 percent since 2008, the largest gain of any state.
Across the border in New York, however, production has stalled since peaking in 2006. By 2012, New York's natural gas production had been cut in half.
Last fall one of the state's tracking pioneers, Chesapeake Energy, began abandoning old leases it had signed back in the early 2000s, often for cut-rate prices. Rather than continue battling landowners who wanted to negotiate better terms, Chesapeake decided to walk. Nine months later, that move looks pretty smart.
Sen. Chuck Schumer said last month that he would support Cuomo if he decided that fracking could be done safely in New York. Given the new ruling, the future of fracking in the state appears to rest with local officials more than it does with the governor.
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