Banning Fracking

Fracking has been banned in New York, but will it continue to spread?

Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo

 (Right)

Governor Cuomo of New York has banned Fracking in New York. This ban has made environmental groups happy, but landowners and energy companies are disappointed. Landowners wanted to sell land to the companies and obtain royalties due to fracking.

Men with Cabot Oil and Gas work on Fracking.

Fracking is done by having special chemical water blasted into rocks that may contain oil/gas. This has given lots of money towards energy companies, money to landowners, lowered demand for energy imports, and lowered energy costs to the American people. New York holds a lot of gas underground, which is why energy companies want to frack in New York. Department of Environmental Conservation will decide next year whether fracking will be legal or not. Fracking has been proven scientifically that it pollutes the world, by air, water, ground, and groundwater through the chemicals released. However energy companies have argued that fracking has been done for a long time already, and the environmental damages are minor. Governor Cuomo said that he chose the health of New York over the jobs of New York.

Fracking has been banned in New York, which will cause the banning of fracking in other states to be an issue. The Department of Environmental Conservation next year will decide to prohibit fracking, if prohibited then America will need more foreign energy exports and the price of gas/oil will rise, which might balance out the cheaper gas prices, but we might start to research more renewable energy sources. If fracking is not prohibited, America will be able to continue to generate money from it and create more job, but renewable energy research might not be looked as a profitable choice. It is up to the state and the federal government to decide upon this.