Riverkeeper's take on Governor Paterson's "Veto + Exec Order" daily double
December 13, 2010
Riverkeeper Team
Maybe the Gov thought he was being Solomon-like, in declaring one form of fracking [horizontal wells] off limits until July but allowing another form [vertical wells] to be permitted immediately. Or, maybe he's just so hungry for tax revenues and pissed off at New Yorkers for stopping his push to drill "anyway, anyhow, anywhere" this dirty industry chooses, he's lost track of what's at stake here.
Either way, there's no wisdom in Paterson's cut-the-baby-in-half decision, because fracking as currently practiced is unsafe no matter what direction you drill in. Just ask the folks in Dimock, PA whose health and environment have been scarred forever due to vertical drilling [again, that's the kind our Governor just allowed to proceed unabated].
Badly done, Governor P! You had a chance to restore credibility to the state's fractured approach to fracking and you blew it. And, by plunging the process into further chaos, you've done nobody any real favors - not the tens of thousands of concerned New Yorkers you've just dissed, and not even the drilling industry, which needed to be pushed to get it right, not allowed to think that they can cover up their sins by sending another dozen lobbyists to Albany to fight the will of the public and their legislature.