Yesterday, the New York Times weighed in on fracking via its editorial pages. (This is not the first time it's done this.) Unsurprisingly, the paper called for a complete ban on any and all fracking in the NYC watershed region:
We have long believed that carefully regulated drilling in the Marcellus Shale might be feasible, but the state should put the city’s watershed permanently off limits. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council share this view. There are simply too many points in the drilling process where toxic chemicals could escape.
Nationwide, hydraulic fracturing has been implicated in dozens of water pollution cases, but much of the evidence is anecdotal. The E.P.A.’s job is to figure out the risks, order changes in drilling practices where necessary and develop federal regulations to replace the present state-by-state patchwork of laws.
The drilling industry says its technology is fundamentally sound. BP said pretty much the same thing. We need more credible assurances this time.
