Ryan Elivo is a senior in Columbia College studying Sustainable Development. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development.
On December 17, Governor Cuomo announced a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” making New York the first state to follow Vermont in banning the practice.[i] After nearly a decade of deliberation, this was the right decision. The New York Department of Health report that accompanied Governor Cuomo’s decision cites air pollution, climate change, surface- and groundwater contamination, and earthquakes as being potentially associated with hydraulic fracturing activity.[ii] However, the report also proclaims that the science is not robust enough to determine the risk of fracking and whether those risks can even be managed.[iii] This consequently makes Governor Cuomo’s decision a victory for the precautionary principle, in which an activity must not be done even if there is no scientific certainty that there is any real threat. With so much at stake, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Despite this victory, New York’s heavy dependency on natural gas remains the elephant in the room. The Great Recession and the growing use of natural gas to generate electricity as a substitute for coal has led to a nationwide decrease in greenhouse gas emissions since 2007.[iv] The increase in natural gas use also led to some public health benefits in New York City, as its use in building heating facilitated the phase-out of toxic No. 4 and 6 fuel oils that generated more soot pollution than all of New York City’s cars and trucks in 2009.[v] Electricity generated from natural gas constituted 46 percent of total generation in September 2014 and 36 percent of total energy consumption in 2012.[vi]
Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio endorsed the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by the year 2050 for New York State and New York City, respectively.[vii] [viii] The International Energy Agency, meanwhile, asserted that all of the energy infrastructure that will generate the carbon emissions that can be emitted safely before resulting in runaway climate change would be constructed by 2017.[ix] This puts the future of New York’s energy, in particular its heavy dependence on natural gas, into question. That is because if the nation is serious about tackling climate change and is nevertheless promoting natural gas beyond that which is required to fulfill its role as a “bridge fuel,” then this infrastructure would need to be stranded before the end of its useful life. Such an outcome would be politically and financially inexpedient. There is also the fact that as New York continues enjoying the benefits of natural gas as a consumer, the damaging effects of extraction continue to be felt by exporter states such as Pennsylvania, which adds an additional dimension of ethical and regional inequity that cannot be disregarded.
Policymakers must thus recognize the imperative of scaling up renewable energy as soon as possible in line with the latest science. There is no plausible alternative aside from importing even more energy from other states. The future of nuclear energy, which provided 29 percent of New York’s electricity last September, is uncertain given grassroots opposition, safety concerns and unfavorable economic conditions.[x] [xi] It is unlikely that the natural gas question will be revisited in the future—New Yorkers largely supported the decision to ban fracking, and much of the Marcellus Shale would nonetheless be off-limits to drilling due to existing municipal bans and ordinances that have been upheld by the state’s highest court.[xii] It is also highly unlikely that the oil and gas industry will seek to overturn the decision through litigation.[xiii]
New York already has a Renewable Portfolio Standard—which requires utilities to obtain a designated amount of their generation from renewable energy sources—of 30 percent by 2015. As of the beginning of 2014, New York has only achieved 49 percent of the target, which means that much work remains to be done before the deadline, after which a more stringent standard will need to be enacted.[xiv] Ultimately, the leadership that Governor Cuomo showed by banning fracking is the same kind of leadership that is needed to create a prosperous and sustainable clean energy economy for New York. It is essential that the grassroots movements that endeavored to make the state fracking ban a reality engage in this conversation about the state’s energy future and continue making it a priority on the legislative and executive agenda.
REFERENCES
[i] Thomas Kaplan, “Citing Health Risks, Cuomo Bans Fracking in New York State,” New York Times, December 17, 2014.
[ii] “High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing for Shale Gas Development,” New York State Department of Health, December 2014, 17-41.
[iii] Ibid, 88.
[iv] “Trends in Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” Chapter 2 in U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory 2014, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2014, 3.
[v] “The bottom of the barrel – How the dirtiest heating oil pollutes our air and harms our health,” Environmental Defense Fund, December 16, 2009, 4.
[vi] “New York State Energy Profile,” U.S. Energy Information Agency, 2014.
[vii] “Executive Order No. 24 (2009), New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 2014.
[viii] “Mayor de Blasio Commits to 80 Percent Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050, Starting with Sweeping Green Buildings Plan,” New York City, September 21, 2014.
[ix] “World Energy Outlook 2012,” International Energy Agency, 2012, 3.
[x] “New York State Energy Profile,” U.S. Energy Information Agency, 2014.
[xi] Henry Fountain, “Nuclear: Carbon Free, but Not Free of Unease,” New York Times, December 22, 2014.
[xii] Emily Atkin, “New Yorkers Strongly Approve of State’s New Ban on Fracking,” ThinkProgress, December 24, 2014.
[xiii] Daniel Wiessner, “NY unlikely to face lawsuits over fracking ban, experts say,” Reuters, December 17, 2014.
[xiv] “New York State Renewable Portfolio Standard – Annual Performance Report Through December 31, 2013,” New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, March 2014. 9.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development