Community | December 01, 2010 | 53 comments

N.Y. Assembly Approves Fracking Moratorium

source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/n-y-assembly-approves-fracking-moratorium/

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lookatmypix
"The New York State Assembly voted 93 to 43 Monday night to place a temporary moratorium on a controversial type of natural gas exploration that combines hydraulic fracturing with horizontal drilling. The goal is to give the state more time to address safety and environmental concerns.

The Senate passed a similar bill in August, and the legislation now awaits the signature of Gov. David Paterson."
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/n-y-assembly-approves-fracking-morator...



Please urge him to sign this by calling his office at 518-474-8390.
This is a great victory! It just shows the power of the PEOPLE!



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53 comments // N.Y. Assembly Approves Fracking Moratorium

  • s_peak
  • coolplanet
    • +2
      coolplanet  

    • This hits home hard for me. The farm where I grew up and is my refuge is under attack by the frackers. All of my poor neighbors have sold out, and loud, obnoxious towers are going up everywhere.
      It sounds like a busy heliport and looks like little Eiffle Towers lit up for xmas. Orange tape and bulldozer ruts mar the landscape.
      My neighbors are happy that they might make some big money and don't think about the price of clean water. They believe that they are being somehow patriotic.
      HELP!

    • 1 year ago
  • EdJoyProductions
  • s_peak
    • +2
      s_peak  
    • coolplanet:

      Give them copies of the documentary GASLAND. That might do it.

      They should know that their health and the health of the environment we all depend on is at risk. There's also not really an upside, because we could be generating that power in a number of other ways that are completely clean.

    • 1 year ago
  • bombastinator
    • 0
      bombastinator  

    • "shows the power of the people". So we shouldn't do it because it's dangerous to the environment or anything like that? No reason but mindless arm waving?

      That's teabagger quality logic that is.

      I don't know that this is a bad bill but you sure make it sound that way.

    • 1 year ago
  • lookatmypix
    • +4
      lookatmypix  
    • bombastinator:

      That is your assumption. This is a real victory and a little euphoria won't hurt anything.

      To Bombastinator and anyone that wants to know more about how gas drilling is dangerous:

      "How much water is used during the fracking process?

      Generally 1-8 million gallons of water may be used to frack a well. A well may be fracked up to 18 times.
      What fluids are used in the fracking process?

      For each frack, 80-300 tons of chemicals may be used. Presently, the natural gas industry does not have to disclose the chemicals used, but scientists have identified volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene.
      In what form does the natural gas come out of the well?

      The gas comes up wet in produced water and has to be separated from the wastewater on the surface. Only 30-50% of the water is typically recovered from a well. This wastewater can be highly toxic.
      What is done with the wastewater?

      Evaporators evaporate off VOCs and condensate tanks steam off VOCs, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The wastewater is then trucked to water treatment facilities.
      What is a well's potential to cause air pollution?

      As the VOCs are evaporated and come into contact with diesel exhaust from trucks and generators at the well site, ground level ozone is produced. Ozone plumes can travel up to 250 miles." More here: http://gaslandthemovie.com/whats-fracking#frackingprocess

      You can also watch "Gasland".

    • 1 year ago
  • bombastinator
  • coolplanet
  • artemis6
  • artemis6
  • KSirys
  • libertyforall
    • -4
      libertyforall  

    • Sad to see so many people buy into fearmongering rather than researching this for themselves.

      The fracking process uses 99% sand and 1% other chemicals. In my state (West Virginia) there has never been a single case of contaminated water from the fracking process. Also, it isn't the fracking process that's the problem. It's the dirty water they withdraw after it is over.

      Companies definitely need to make sure they remove dirty water for cleaning, but otherwise, this process is extremely safe.

    • 1 year ago
  • coolplanet
    • +5
      coolplanet  
    • libertyforall:

      Report: Fracking Chemicals In NE Pa. Water Wells
      By Michael Rubinkam
      Associated Press 9/17/10

      DIMOCK, Pa. -- A private consulting firm says it found toxic chemicals in the drinking water of a Pennsylvania community already dealing with methane contamination from natural gas drilling.
      Environmentalist engineer Daniel Farnham said Thursday that his tests, which were verified by three laboratories, found industrial solvents such as toluene and ethylbenzene in "virtually every sample" taken from wells in Dimock Township, Susquehanna County.

    • 1 year ago
  • bombastinator
    • +1
      bombastinator  
    • libertyforall:

      I suspect you're wrong here.

      A) 1% sounds like a tiny bit but depending on the chemical it could still be deadly.

      B) You're assuming you have the same kind of rock as they do. Geology is a complicated thing. Just because it's safe in one area doesn't mean it's safe in another.

      C) How can they insure they actually get all the dirty water anyway? Seems pretty unlikely, and if/when they do, what do they do with the water?

      You are however the only one here with the exception of coolplanet including the original poster who seems to have even a basic clue about what is even being talked about and is arguing with anything other than arm waving, so I'm forced to vote you up.

    • 1 year ago
  • bombastinator
  • s_peak
    • +3
      s_peak  
    • Image
    • libertyforall:

      No way. No way at all. You can't just crack layers of the earth and push sludge through it and expect to have no ramifications. The areas of your state that don't have polluted groundwater, PROBABLY have their water pumped from some far away location, like here. I get my water from 50 miles away. Which is ridiculous in itself, because then it requires lots of chemicals to treat. Mind you that none of the treatment chemicals used in tapwater can clean out fracking fluid... but that's beside the point... People who have their own wells are particularly at risk here. There are at least several thousand cases of polluted groundwater from fracking. There's also this:

      "Marcellus shale naturally traps metals such as uranium and at levels higher than usually found naturally, but lower than manmade contamination levels," says Tracy Bank, PhD, assistant professor of geology in UB's College of Arts and Sciences and lead researcher. "My question was, if they start drilling and pumping millions of gallons of water into these underground rocks, will that force the uranium into the soluble phase and mobilize it? Will uranium then show up in groundwater?"

      "... When Bank and her colleagues reacted samples in the lab with surrogate drilling fluids, they found that the uranium was indeed, being solubilized.... "

      I could actually keep going, believe it or not, but I'll just end by saying... there's absolutely NO point in using fracking to try and make energy. Not only is the initial energy payment for extraction too large to be even close to sustainable, but there are MANY other types of energy generation that are completely, 100% safe that can be done anywhere. Solar, wind, wave, bacterial, etc. Look at this:

      http://gizmodo.com/5350191/how-many-solar-panels-would-it-take-to-power-the-enti...

      We could power the world with solar alone (although we would want wind and wave, too) relatively easily.

      You may not realize how important it is to keep water clean. I hope, for your sake, you at least have an RO filter... but it won't help you much because it has been shown NOT to be able to remove some of the most dangerous fracking chemicals... and it's basically the best water filter you can get.

      1% of an active ingredient is enough to kill you slowly and painfully (or quick and painfully)... just like fluoride in toothpaste. You wanna talk about not doing your research? Where's your research that shows that fracking isn't dangerous? Please provide some.

    • 1 year ago
  • EdJoyProductions
  • artemis6
  • s_peak
    • 0
      s_peak  
    • artemis6:

      Thank you Artemis! That's quite a complement. :)

      I get pretty passionate about this particular topic. I think it's a pretty simple equation... how much energy does it take to just MAKE oil (or perform fracking) so that we can then burn it? Some ridiculous amount of man hours, oil, water, and wasted earth go into this process. Then we just burn up the product of all this work.

      Solar panels are built at a fraction of this cost and consistently return energy. They essentially pay for themselves... something oil can never, ever do.

      Why argue with that? :D

    • 1 year ago
  • VoyagerFilms
  • KHZProductions
    • +4
      KHZProductions  

    • Just another example of our people and land being raped by corporations in the name of profits. It's only a matter of time before they start probing our asses to extract the methane.

    • 1 year ago
  • madjik68
    • +4
      madjik68  

    • The frackers need to go! This method of extraction threatens our ground water and no telling what it is doing to the Earth's crust.

    • 1 year ago
  • lookatmypix
  • EdJoyProductions
  • lookatmypix
  • EdJoyProductions
  • KSirys
  • lookatmypix
  • KSirys
  • CalgarC
  • RMattnerTours
  • EdJoyProductions
    • +5
      EdJoyProductions  

    • We need as permanent banning, not just a moratorium. These slimy energy companies will lobby politicians with money until they give in and kill us all. A moratorium just gives the energy companies time to find out who it is that they need to pay to let the unchecked destruction begin.

    • 1 year ago
  • Swisher
  • CalgarC
  • EdJoyProductions
    • +2
      EdJoyProductions  
    • CalgarC:

      We need to demand clean energy sources and prosecute politicians and lobbyists that act with criminally negligent greed. Until what amounts to bribes to politicians is actually treated as the crime that it is, the people will always be in danger.

    • 1 year ago
  • ThatCrazyLibertarian
  • CalgarC
  • EdJoyProductions
    • +2
      EdJoyProductions  
    • ThatCrazyLibertarian:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5hEiANG4Uk

      This is the problem. Since corporations want to be recognized as people with rights, I think we should prosecute the CEOs when they commit psychopathic acts. I will even grant that the CEO be committed to an institution for the criminally insane if the offending corporation is deemed incompetent to stand trial, but someone must be held accountable.

      It is the lack of accountability that is the biggest problem.

    • 1 year ago
  • EdJoyProductions
  • CalgarC
  • ThatCrazyLibertarian
  • CalgarC
  • ThatCrazyLibertarian
  • CalgarC
  • ThatCrazyLibertarian
  • libertyforall
  • EdJoyProductions
  • ThatCrazyLibertarian
  • libertyforall
    • -2
      libertyforall  
    • ThatCrazyLibertarian:

      The drilling goes well below the water table so it isn't polluting the water tables. The only possible place for contamination happens when they remove the dirty water from the ground.

      I'm not against clean drinking water either. But that facts show that overall, the fracking process is completely safe.

    • 1 year ago
  • EdJoyProductions
  • ThatCrazyLibertarian
  • libertyforall
    • -1
      libertyforall  
    • ThatCrazyLibertarian:

      Nothing is ever 100% safe. Sometimes accidents could happen. To stop drilling for gas, when we have a huge supply right here at home, is incredibly shortsighted.

      I have no problems with bringing in monitors and making sure water is not contaminated. In WV we have a treatment facility that the companies are forced to take their dirty water for treatment after fracking.

    • 1 year ago
  • ozoneocean
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