Official fracking ban a watershed moment for New York

For Immediate Release

June 29,2015
Contact: Cliff Weathers, Communications Director
914-478-4501, Ext 239

Riverkeeper: DEC’s groundbreaking Findings Statement on fracking represents a watershed moment in the protection of New York’s communities and natural resources

OSSINING, N.Y. – The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released its widely anticipated Findings Statement on June 29, 2015, officially instating the ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) that Governor Cuomo’s administration courageously announced back in December of 2014. The Findings Statement concludes: “Based on unavoidable adverse environmental impacts and uncertainty regarding the science surrounding high-volume hydraulic fracturing and its potential impacts to public health and the environment … high-volume hydraulic fracturing will be prohibited in New York State.” The DEC concluded that even a stringent regulatory program could not guarantee these impacts would be adequately mitigated.

Riverkeeper, after assessing the findings statement, has this statement from Kate Hudson, its Director of Cross Watershed Initiatives:

“This day will go down as one of the most important in New York’s history, when we witnessed our state government confirm that protecting the health and safety of all New Yorkers was the highest priority and would not be compromised for the interests of the oil and gas industry.

“We thank Governor Cuomo and the Departments of Health and Environmental Conservation for fulfilling the Governor’s promise to follow the science in order to make the right decision on fracking. The ban is firmly rooted in the scientific research gathered since 2009 – the vast majority of which identifies the threats that fracking poses to public health and the environment. The DEC’s Final SGEIS offers the most thorough scientific review to date of the potential impacts from high-volume hydraulic fracturing and should be used as a model for other jurisdictions contemplating the development of shale and other low-permeability gas reservoirs. We commend the DEC’s strong commitment to science in protecting New York’s communities and natural resources.

“The Findings Statement formalizes what the scientific evidence and the majority of citizens have made inescapably clear: fracking should and will have no place in the great state of New York.”