Different Attitudes Toward Fracking

DIFFERENT ATTITUDES TOWARD FRACKING 1

DIFFERENT ATTITUDES TOWARD FRACKING 2

Different Attitudes Towards Fracking in New York State and Pennsylvania

Andrew Turner

University of Maryland University College
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Different Attitudes Towards Fracking in New York State and Pennsylvania

The United States has become one of the leading producers of natural gas in the world, and now is an exporter of natural gas as well. As natural gas imports increase, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, ?Expects the United States to

be a net natural gas exporter by 2017? (?Projections,? 2015, para.1). The EIA also states that, ?Increased shale gas production accounts for three-quarters of the increase in total dry gas production. More than half of the increase in shale gas production comes from the Haynesville and Marcellus formations? (Projections,? 2015, para.3). Despite the importance of natural gas production to the U.S., the individual states have the right to regulate, tax, or simply ban drilling within their borders. A great example of this is the different attitudes towards fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, between New York State and Pennsylvania.
Fracking involves drilling a well to approximately a mile below the ground, then pumping a mix of water, sand, and chemicals into the well to fracture the shale deep underground, and then pumping the water, sand, and chemicals back out, followed by the gas now released from the shale.

One of the biggest problems with fracking is the large volume of water, now contaminated not only with the chemicals mixed in prior to the fracking, but also now loaded with radioactive brine from deep below ground, making safe disposal of the water difficult. Initially, both New York and Pennsylvania embraced fracking, but while Pennsylvania began to regulate, and raise state revenues with new taxes on drillers, New York State first issued a moratorium on drilling, and then after many studies, in June, 2015, New York State officially banned all high volume hydraulic fracturing (Klopott,

2015).
According to Hansen (2013), ?Pennsylvania, which contains portions of the gas producing Marcellus shale basin, collected over $1.2 billion in similar state and local tax revenue last year? (para. 3). Meanwhile, in New York, as written by Phillips (2014), ?According to a recent report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the shale formations under New York ?do not appear as economically viable as the parts of those formations that underlie Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio.? BNEF analyzed 98 natural gas wells within 10 miles of the New York-Pennsylvania border and determined the wells that potentially could be drilled on the New York side of the border would perform worse than the corresponding wells in Pennsylvania?? (para. 5). How much the lower potential revenues impact New York States willingness to take a stand against fracking is anyone?s guess, but even making less revenue than the other Marcellus states, New York would surely make a considerable amount of money, so their ban cannot be taken lightly. Pennsylvania continues to add regulations, collect fines, and raise taxes on drillers, but it will be interesting to see if the price of natural gas drops to a point where revenue from drilling taxes no longer outweigh environmental concerns.
Strangely enough, there is an area where Pennsylvania and New York State agree on fracking, and that is the Delaware River.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) is made up of the state governors of Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York, as well as a representative from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The DRBC was attempting to prepare natural gas regulations that will definitely protect the river basin from pollution, and their difficulty spoke volumes about the risks involved in fracking. According to the DRBC website, ?In connection with natural gas drilling, the commission has identified three major areas of concern: 1. Gas drilling projects in the Marcellus Shale or other formations may have a substantial effect on the water resources of the basin by reducing the flow in streams and/or aquifers used to supply the significant amounts of fresh water needed in the natural gas mining process. 2.On-site drilling operations may potentially add, discharge, or cause the release of pollutants into the ground water or surface water. 3.The recovered "frack water" must be treated and disposed of properly.? (?Natural? para. 4). However, as written by Stutz (2015), ?in November 2011, with only two of the four states in the Delaware Basin in support of fracking, the DRBC abruptly withdrew its proposed Four years ago the gas industry was poised to spread into the Delaware River basin. regulations and instituted a moratorium. The fracking industry in the

Pennsylvania portion of the Delaware basin was stopped in its tracks? (Stutz, para. 4). What is confusing, is that while New York State?s attitude is the same across the entire state, Pennsylvania has one standard for a small part of Eastern Pennsylvania, but less concern for the environmental impact of fracking throughout the rest of the state.
So, while fracking may be here now, it is not going to be everywhere, nor is it certain to be here indefinitely. Attitudes, and the will of the people and politicians, can change. Factors such as potential revenue, and environmental impact, can affect those attitudes, both positively and negatively.

References
Hansen, L. (2013). OLR research report: hydraulic fracturing. Retrieved from https://www.cga.ct.gov/2013/rpt/2013-R-0176.htm

Klopott, (2015). N.Y. officially bans fracking with release of seven-year study. Retrieved from

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-29/n-y-officially-bans-fracking-with-release-of-seven-year-study

Phillips, M. (2014). Fracking in New York would not have been as lucrative as in Pennsylvania. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-12-19/fracking-in-new-york-may-not-have-been-a-gold-mine

Projections show U.S. becoming a net exporter of natural gas. (2015). EIA. Retrieved from https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=20992

Natural gas drilling index page. (2015). DRBC. Retrieved from http://www.nj.gov/drbc/programs/natural/

Stutz, B. (2015). As the fracking boom spreads, one watershed draws the line. Retrieved from http://e360.yale.edu/feature/as_the_fracking_boom_spreads_one_watershed_draws_the_line/2921/