In May, Marist completed a statewide poll in New York State to find out if residents generally support or generally oppose hydraulic fracturing. The standard coverage of this poll in the media, the “big news” if you will, is that New Yorkers are about evenly split: 41 percent generally oppose hydraulic fracturing, and 38 percent support it—a statistical dead heat with the margin of error +/- 5 percent. Marist says a “notable” 21 percent are unsure. But MDN believes the “real news” in this poll is confirmation that the shale gas drilling debate in New York—and nationwide—is (sadly) more about politics than science and common sense. Poll internals found here.
I was actually encouraged by the results of the Marist poll. If you live in New York, you have been privy to the anti-fracking onslaught that has occurred. The fact that this movement is unable to sway a statistical majority is a testament to the inherent safety of hydraulic fracturing in New York and elsewhere.
John Hanger remarks:
Pennsylvanians believe the economic benefits of gas drilling outweigh the environmental impacts 63% to 30%, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll. See http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml.
The public even more strongly supports taxing the gas industry, favoring a drilling tax by 69% to 24%.
The Pennsylvania public wants the gas produced, the industry to pay a drilling tax, and the environment protected. These polling numbers confirm that Pennsylvania is a common sense, centrist state that looks askance at ideological approaches to solving problems.
Pennsylvanians oppose moratoriums at least on private lands and oppose rigid ideological pledges against imposing taxes or fees on anything.
Last week the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research released a report entitled "The Economic Opportunities of Shale Energy Development". I highlighted the results previously, but here is a refresher:
- An end to the moratorium would spur over $11.4 billion in economic output.
- Some 15,000 to 18,000 jobs could be created in the Southern Tier and Western New York, regions which lost a combined 48,000 payroll jobs between 2000 and 2010.*
- Another 75,000 to 90,000 jobs could be created if the area of exploration and drilling were expanded to include the Utica shale and southeastern New York, including the New York City watershed. (This assumes a regulatory regime that protects the water supply but permits drilling to continue.)
- Localities and the state stand to reap $1.4 billion in tax revenues if the moratorium is allowed to expire.
This study also reviews the public records of environmental violations reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection over the period 2008–10. It then quantifies the impact of these violations on land, water, and air resources. The costs of these environmental impacts are then estimated on the basis of the value of the environmental amenities at stake. Our main finding is that the cost of these environmental impacts is far smaller than the economic benefits that drilling can provide.
- The typical Marcellus shale gas well generates about $4 million in economic benefits.
- The economic damage resulting from the environmental impacts of a typical shale gas well comes to $14,000.
Based on the results of the study former Pennsylvania Ed Rendell had some interesting, insightful, and real world advice for New York Governor Andrew Quomo as he struggles against the political winds. New York Department of Environmental Conservation has been instructed by Governor Quomo to release a Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) on the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing within the Marcellus Shale formation in New York state. His predecessor, David Patterson, implemented a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing last year pending the SGEIS statement, the results of which are due on July 1st.
Regardless, Ed Rendell has some unsolicited advice for the New York Governor.....
Regarding NewYork State's nearly three -year-old moratorium on shale gas drilling permits...
"If Gov. Cuomo were to ask me my advice about lifting the moratorium, I would tell him the moratorium should be lifted. There's too much of an upside here for New York, as there was for Pennsylvania, and too much of an upside for America."[13:30]
On the 1,900 environmental violations racked up over the last three years by shale gas drillers, out of which Considine's study reported 7.9 percent were rated by regulators as "serious"...
"Do the math — 7.9 percent of 1,900 means there were 170 serious violations. Do you know what one serious violation does in the minds of the people of a county? And in the minds of the people in a surrounding county? And, with the media today, in the minds of the people in the entire state?" [21:16]
Back to the situation with neighboring New York...
"Nobody has more riding on this than the state governments do themselves, because of the economic uptick... New York should go down this path because it's so important, and the upside is so great. But we've got to use care in every way. And it shouldn't be just the state department of environmental protection that's exercising that oversight and care. It ought to be the companies themselves." [28:02]
The video of Governor Rendell's comments can be found here and is a must view for anyone interested in the fracking debate!
Last week the New York Assembly passed a bill to continue the drilling moratorium through next year, going so far as to include traditional gas drilling. The vote in the Senate is due this week. One has to wonder why this is such a pressing issue when the DEC's SGEIS isn't due until July 1st. Me thinks that our environmentalist opponents don't expect a victory when the report is published. Just a guess, but seems pretty obvious from all that has been published and refuted over the past few months.
If you have time and interest consider calling your Senator and telling them that your vote in the next election is dependent on their vote on this issue.
Shameless talking points and office numbers here:
1. A moratorium is not needed. There is no need to put 5,000 people out of work that has been performed safely for decades.
2. Let the DEC do their job and release the SGEIS without further delay. Facts and Science should be controlling this process.
3. Do not promote any legislation that would hinder the economic growth this is predicted to create. A recent report by the Manhattan Policy Institute conservatively estimates that 18,000 new jobs and $11.4 billion in economic activity will be created as a result of Marcellus development in New York by 2020.
4. The science and history proves that the natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing has been used for decades in New York with zero incidences of water well contamination or adverse health consequences.Here are the names and numbers to call...
Albany Offices:
Sen. Libous: 518-455-2677
Sen. Grisanti: 518-455-3240
Sen. Gallivan: 518-455-3471
Sen. DeFrancisco: 518-455-3511
Sen. Bonacic: 518-455-3181
Sen. Saland: 518-455-2411
Sen. Golden: 518-455-2730
Sen. Seward: 518-455-3131
Sen. Nozzolio: 518-455-2366
Sen. McDonald: 518-455-2381
The time is now New York. Support cheap, clean energy, good paying jobs, and local infrastructure, or don't. The choice is yours.
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