Buffalo, NY bans hydraulic fracturing
NEW YORK |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The city of Buffalo, New York, banned the natural gas drilling technique of hydraulic fracturing on Tuesday, a largely symbolic vote that demonstrates concern about potential harm to groundwater from mining an abundant energy source.
The city council voted 9-0 to prohibit natural gas extraction including the process known as "fracking" in which chemicals, sand and water are blasted deep into the earth to fracture shale formations and allow gas to escape.
The ordinance also bans storing, transferring, treating or disposing of fracking waste within the city.
No such drilling projects had been planned in Buffalo, located in New York state, though city officials were concerned that fracking waste water from nearby operations was reaching the city sewer system.
Backers of the measure hope it will help build pressure against fracking, which environmentalists say endangers groundwater as a result of leaking chemicals.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has enacted a similar ban.
Industry supporters say fracking is proven to be safe and can provide a much-needed domestic energy source. For an index of shale gas companies, double-click on.
The Marcellus shale formation underlies much of Pennsylvania and parts of surrounding states including western New York. Geologists estimate it could meet U.S. natural gas demand for 20 years or more.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is studying the impact of fracking and on Tuesday submitted a draft of its study to the agency's Science Advisory Board for review.
Initial findings from the study are expected to be made public by the end of 2012.
Also on Tuesday, New York's acting Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens told the state legislature the agency's guidelines for allowing high-volume hydraulic fracturing in New York would be completed by about June 1, according to his spokesman.
The agency will then allow 30 days for public comment, the spokesman said.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta and Edith Honan; Editing by David Gregorio)
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Industry sources are full of bovine excreta. In Colorado, wherever there is fracking, there is severe contamination of ground water making it unusable for human or animal consumption. But don’t ask the industry, ask the home-owners and farmers in the area with wells. They will tell you the truth.
Or continue with the lie for money. Whichever… You think about what the physics of fracking is, and create a theory on how it operates within the water table.
What is it going to do to clean groundwater that is imperviously separated from other areas of water that are brackish or contain metallic ion contaminants. Bovine excreta on the industry’s part to say that it doesn’t contaminate the aquifers. Then they go away after they sucked what they wanted out of your area, leaving unusable wells and water tables.
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