The health study that's being used as the reason for Cuomo to further delay his decision is being touted as a "large-scale, scientifically rigorous assessment" of drilling in Pennsylvania that will look at detailed health histories of hundreds of thousands of patients who live near wells and other facilities that are producing natural gas from the same Marcellus Shale formation that New York would tap." Unsaid is the well known fact that industry practice is to force those sickened, whose drinking water they polluted, whose animals died, to sign confidentiality "agreements" in exchange for a buy out or even simple delivery of water. Therefore, no health study can ever be rigorous while these records remain sealed. Whack! And whack again!
Furthermore, just as the moratorium on fracking in New York State since 2006 has allowed the extension of drilling leases, a downside which members of the New York State Green Party have repeatedly tried to bring to the attention of those fighting fracking, such delay has also allowed the building of additional pipelines, such as the Millennium, and the accompanying compressor stations and metering stations, etc. The Green Party of New York at least since 2010 has been calling for a complete and total ban on fracking as the only answer to this threat and amongst Green Party and other groups, criminalization of the act of fracking. Green Party spokespeople early got a lot of pushback from those who, fearful of the power of the people, were adamant that you could not ban fracking as, supposedly, it was an unconstitutional taking of property. Since then, the takings argument has been weakened by the recognition that a ban on fracking does not prevent a landowner from using the land for other purposes where there is no split estate situation (i.e. the person owning the land is different from the person owning the minerals below the surface, which is a whole other discussion). Many things and processes are already banned at state and federal levels which arguably are much less life threatening than fracking. The Green Party has been years ahead on the fracking issue, pointing out early that the practice is inherently dangerous, toxic and a major threat to human, animal and planetary health, all borne out by later studies.
And, of course, with expected exportation of NG from import terminals now being converted to export terminals, the price of NG will increase to the benefit of industry and the detriment of homeowners and small businesses. The delay for the health study will also provide time for the conversion of these terminals .
NG is a grand bargaining chip in Obama's holster (mixing metaphors, yes) when he's dealing with Europe, Asia and Russia, a chip not to be taken away from him by the likes of activists against fracking. Perhaps. The choice therefore for activists is whether to be pawns or people.
Stay tuned and keep your Whack a Mole mallet ready, if you are so inclined.
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