Commentary: Scientific Case for banning fracking on federal land
By Larysa Dyrszka, MD and Mary Menapace, RN
Larysa Dyrszka, MD, of Sullivan County is co-founder, and Mary Menapace, RN, of Syracuse is a member, of Concerned Health Professionals of New York, www.concernedhealthny.org, an organization dedicated to researching and raising awareness about the public health risks of high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing.
The final fracking review has been released and the paperwork has been completed to make New York’s long-awaited fracking ban official. We are proud to celebrate Governor Cuomo’s bold and necessary decision, which confirms what many of us working in healthcare already knew – fracking anywhere in New York would put public health and safety at great risk. As a doctor and a nurse, we can speak to the objective, scientific examination of shale drilling and fracking from a public health standpoint, on which Governor Cuomo wisely based his decision in order to protect the health and water of all New Yorkers.
In the past four years, the number of peer-reviewed studies on shale drilling and fracking has gone from almost zero to more than four hundred, according to the Physicians Scientists & Engineers for Healthy Energy public database. That’s a lot of data, with topics including health impacts, air pollution, water contamination, seismic impacts (including earthquakes), wastewater, engineering issues, climate impacts, and economics.
And the overwhelming consensus from this thorough, objective, independent and rigorous analysis is that fracking has serious dangers and the best course of action is to prohibit fracking. Given that, we are among hundreds of doctors, scientists, health professionals and medical organizations who applaud Governor Cuomo’s decision to ban fracking anywhere in New York. It’s the only scientifically responsible course, and the necessary action to protect the health and water of all New Yorkers.
We are both among a group of New York State scientists and health professionals who have closely followed the science for years, Concerned Health Professionals of New York. Last summer, and again this past December in an updated second edition, we took the approach of looking at trends in the data, releasing a compendium of key findings organized into sixteen areas of concern, written in a manner designed to inform the debate by making technical data more accessible to the public, journalists, elected officials, as well as researchers.
Our report concludes that, “A growing body of peer-reviewed studies, accident reports, and investigative articles is now confirming specific, quantifiable evidence of harm and has revealed fundamental problems with the drilling and fracking.” In short, the trends in the data raise grave concerns about the public health impacts of shale drilling and fracking.
The scientific community has come a long way in our understanding of the impacts of shale drilling and fracking since 2010, with a growing body of empirical data showing harms where we previously only had anecdotal evidence. Additionally, many more studies are currently under way, including a number of major studies that are looking at some of the cumulative impacts that have yet to be examined.
This much is clear, however: hundreds of studies – the best science we have – show that shale drilling and fracking pose a threat to public health, our water, and the environment. In their own examination of the science, the New York State Department of Health likewise concluded that drilling and fracking pose “significant public health risks.”
Unfortunately, the federal government is not being as cautious as Governor Cuomo’s administration. President Obama’s administration recently issued regulations which will allow fracking on federal land – including in national parks. Putting people and our public lands at risk makes no sense.
The people of New York overwhelmingly support our state ban on fracking. Our United States senators and members of Congress have an opportunity to protect our public treasures and our health by working to ban fracking on federal lands. They should listen to the science and the public health experts and do it.
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Also, see “The Human and Environmental Impact of Fracking: How Fracking Shale for Gas Affects Us and Our World,” Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy.”
See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net
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