Fracking Ban in NY

Valentin Sigalov // Prokhor Zakharov

This concerns us locally. As you may have heard, New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo finalized a ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) several days ago. What were his administrations reasons for this action?

First of all, he had his back covered. Polls indicate that no major group, whether a political party, gender, age of interest group has had disapproval over the ban.

The thing is, over time, mountains of evidence piled up pointing at fracking as the origin of several major problems. Let’s take a look:

A 2014 report by Colorado School or Public Health and Brown University researchers found that women living near fracking sites has as much as a 30 percent increased chance of giving birth to babies with congenital heart defects.

An October 2013 Yale/Washington/Colorado State study found fracking significantly increases upper respiratory and skin problems.

New York's Institute of Health and the Environment at the University of Albany and others studied air emissions in five fracking states, finding dangerously high levels of carcinogenic chemicals like benzene (levels ranged from 35 times to more than 770,000 times normal) and formaldehyde (levels from 30 to 240 times normal) near frack sites.

I truly hope that New York’s actions have an effect on Pennsylvanian policies. The effects of fracking are real, health-wise and environmentally. Let’s hope that New York shows our politicians that a fracking ban will not ruin the economy, and will instead improve people’s living conditions.


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