New Jersey Fracking Ban Doesn’t Go far Enough for Environmentalists, Proposal calls for moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, opponents argue for permanent solution

Fracking Ban Doesn’t Go far Enough for Environmentalists, Proposal calls for moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, opponents argue for permanent solution by Tom Johnson, February 4, 2013, NJSpotlight
In the previous legislative session, lawmakers approved a bill that would permanently ban the practice, primarily based on fears that it could contaminate the drinking water of millions of New Jerseyans. But Gov. Chris Christie conditionally vetoed the bill, instead urging a one-year ban that expired last month. The issue is one of the more contentious that the Senate Environment and Energy Committee has dealt with in recent years. The discovery of huge deposits of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale formations in Pennsylvania, New York, and elsewhere has driven down the price of the fuel, which plays a crucial role in establishing the price of electricity and making New Jersey manufacturers more competitive in the marketplace. … In his conditional veto of the original ban (S2576) in August 2011, Christie said there is an incomplete record on fracking, which both the state Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency need to complete further study on the issue. “The decision on whether to ban fracking outright or regulate it for environmental protection must be developed on sound government policy and legitimate science,’’ the governor said in his conditional veto. … Under Gordon’s bill, the moratorium on fracking would extend only until the EPA and the DEP complete their reviews of the controversial drilling method, a process that may be finished by late 2014 or early 2015, according to Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “There’s no way that fracking for gas can ever be safe and the Legislature knows this. That’s why they passed a ban on fracking by a landside in 2011,’’ said Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeping Network.

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