And the hits just keep coming.
To hear environmentalists like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tell it, fracking puts Mother Earth on the fast path to destruction because of methane gas. Methane leaks from fracking, he says, “may counterbalance virtually all the benefits of CO 2 reductions . . . from substituting gas power for coal.”
But a study released this month by the University of Texas-Austin — the largest such study into methane leaks from hydraulic fracking — says just the opposite. The study looked at more than 500 wells and found that they cause far fewer leaks than the Environmental Protection Agency had found.
It also found that “green completion” control equipment, which is mandatory by 2015, captured 99% of the methane that escaped from new wells being prepared for production. That also means fracking is not the threat to global warming that some of the doom-and-gloomers have been claiming these past few years.
The study ought to be required reading for Gov. Cuomo, who has been delaying and delaying New York’s entry into this lucrative market on the grounds of environmental and health concerns that seem to be rebutted with every new study.
Today, fracking supports more than 2 million jobs nationwide. It’s filled state and federal treasuries with nearly $75 billion in new revenues and lifted household income by more than $1,200 a year.
All in addition to lower energy prices that help cut costs for US businesses, make our products more competitive in the global economy and reduce our reliance on Middle Eastern oil.
You would think this would be good news. It’s true that some folks think it is — President Obama brags about the increased production as part of his pitch to the middle class. But Gov. Cuomo continues to talk grimly about unknown dangers that no one has proved and few outside the radical green community believe.
In short, the study underscores a point made by former Obama Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel laureate. When it comes to fracking, he says, “You can have your cake and eat it too. You can develop it in a safe way.”
We sure hope someone serves up a big slice of this cake for Gov. Cuomo. He could use some good news, not to mention the revenues. And New Yorkers desperate for the jobs and opportunity fracking would bring to this state sure could use a decision.