Insurer: No shale gas coverage, Nationwide says policies exclude hydrofracking

Insurer: No shale gas coverage, Nationwide says policies exclude hydrofracking by Brian Nearing, Friday, July 13, 2012, Times Union
ALBANY — One of the nation’s largest insurance companies has decided it is too risky to provide coverage on land, property or equipment involved in natural gas hydrofracking. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. released a statement Thursday that said none of its personal or commercial insurance policies were “designed to provide coverage for any fracking-related risks. … We do not have a comfort level with the unique risks associated with the fracking process to provide coverage at a reasonable price.” … “First mortgage companies decided not to offer mortgages to people who had fracking leases. Now it’s insurance companies,” said Dan Cantor, executive director of the Working Families Party, on behalf of New Yorkers Against Fracking, a coalition of environmental and community groups that don’t want the state to approve drilling. Sue Rapp, co-founder of Vestal Residents for Safe Energy, a Southern Tier anti-fracking group, said it was “terrifying that insurance companies have decided that fracking is too dangerous to insure, while our government is poised to let it go forward. Clearly insurance companies assume the risk of accidents is great enough that they will lose money, which means that our lives and livelihoods are in danger.”