![]() Groups across New York State, from the Southern Tier to New York City, waged multi-year grassroots campaigns leading to Governor Cuomo’s 2015 executive action. The ban on fracking, first by executive order and now codified in the state budget, is the product of years of hard-fought advocacy and organizing. While the new law does not implement an outright ban on gelled propane fracking, it puts New York on track to do so in the future, and halts gelled propane fracking activity for the time being. Gelled propane fracking is as harmful to human and environmental health as hydraulic fracking. While fracking typically refers to hydraulic fracturing, which uses water as the base fluid, gelled propane fracking uses gelled propane or liquefied petroleum gas as its base. New York’s new ban on fracking also institutes a moratorium on gelled propane fracking. By memorializing the fracking ban in state law, New York is demonstrating leadership against fossil fuels and making way for a clean energy transition. Methane is a particularly dangerous greenhouse gas that is 85 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. On an even larger scale, fracking fuels the climate crisis, releasing methane at all stages of the gas extraction, transmission, and combustion process. The fracking process releases toxic pollutants into the air and sometimes drinking water, and is therefore especially damaging to people living in nearby shalefields. The thousands of chemicals used in fracking are harmful to human health, linked to cancer, mutations, and other adverse effects. Codifying the ban makes it permanent, protecting generations to come.įracking is a dangerous process that uses a mixture of water, salt, and thousands of toxic chemicals to extract fossil fuels like oil and gas from the earth. This measure comes five years after Governor Andrew Cuomo initially banned fracking in New York State, which, while monumental, was accomplished through executive action, leaving it vulnerable to jettison by future governors. You can thank Governor Cuomo and the DEC for stopping this project in its tracks by tweeting them here.The New York State legislature permanently banned fracking in its Fiscal Year 2021 Budget yesterday-one of several budget items that prioritize the health and future of New York’s people and environment. ![]() We thank Governor Cuomo and the DEC for holding firm and shelving this reckless project. Today’s rejection of the Williams Pipeline will not only prevent more water pollution but will also move us toward a cleaner New York and region. Instead of permitting this billion-dollar pipeline, New York can continue to build momentum around clean energy sources of the future, not fracked gas relics of the past. Politicians-including New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and a coalition of local members of Congress-all joined in solidarity with environmental and social justice groups against the misbegotten project. The pipeline’s rejection comes after over three years of powerful grassroots advocacy from across New York and New Jersey, with tens of thousands of people, including thousands of NRDC members, speaking out against the project. ![]() ![]() NRDC’s full comments on the pipeline can be found here. In its decision, DEC once again noted - and Williams has in the past conceded - that construction of the pipeline would kick up toxic sediment that contains heavy metals, including copper and mercury, at levels exceeding New York limits for these contaminants.
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