The Obama administration unveiled a report Thursday that credits fracking with making the United States more energy independent as well as creating 133,000 new jobs — including in New York neighbor Pennsylvania.
But the fracking “revolution” has bypassed New York, which currently bans the controversial drilling practice.
The Marcellus Shale region that encompasses parts of Pennsylvania and western New York is considered “the Saudi Arabia of natural gas.”
“Because of the revolution in nonconventional natural-gas extraction through horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, natural-gas consumption has increased sharply, with much of this increase displacing coal for electricity generation,” the White House report said.
Gov. Cuomo said his administration is still studying the environmental effects of fracking, but
Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, the GOP candidate for governor, called the ban on fracking “economic malpractice.”