In an October 31 media briefing on Hurricane Sandy, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo linked the storm to climate change: “For us to say this is once-in-a-generation, that it’s not going to happen again, as elected officials that would be short-sighted. This city, this region, is very susceptible to coastal flooding. Part of learning from this is learning that climate change is a reality.” Cuomo proposes considering the type of storm barriers used in Europe – at the mouth of London’s Thames River, for example.
It would take years and years to build storm barriers around New York City. But here is one thing the Governor could do right away to address climate change: approve the use of fracking to drill for natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in western New York. Natural gas produces far less greenhouse gas than coal, which is already being supplanted by gas in many U.S. power plants. By all means let’s regulate drilling so it does not affect ground water and so the waste water is properly handled. This can be done. Thousands of wells have already been drilled around the country without significant environmental damage—including next door in Pennsylvania.
But is it acceptable to approve energy projects that involve any damage to the environment? The reality is that all types of energy production have some impact – including noisy windmills that slice up birds and solar collector fields that blight hundreds of acres of open land. Natural gas drilling sites, which temporarily cover a few acres, are actually far less less disruptive than either windmills or solar (or, for that matter, coal mines). And let’s remember that if Cuomo’s proposed storm barriers ever made the trip from rhetoric to reality, environmentalists would discover all sorts of risks to sensitive marine life. Nothing is perfect.
Closing New York’s Income Gap
And, by the way, fracking in New York would address two of the biggest socioeconomic issues vexing liberals: wage stagnation and income inequality. The median household income in three counties that would benefit from fracking (Broome, Chenango, and Cortland) is only $42,371, or just 55% of the level in Westchester County (home to many rich liberals, including professional fracking opponent Robert Kennedy Jr.). By permitting fracking Cuomo would create thousands of relatively well-paid jobs for middle class families struggling in one of the more depressed rural economies in the United States. And cheap natural would reduce fuel costs, thereby lifting real wages.
So will Cuomo actually step up and doing something concrete to address climate change while helping New Yorkers? Or just talk? We’ll find out.
