Attention: News Editor
For Immediate Release
December 21, 2014
GREEN PARTY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Contact:
Jay Sweeney 570-587-3603
Hillary Kane 267-971-3559
Green Party Supports New York Fracking Ban
The Green Party of Pennsylvania praises Governor Andrew Cuomo’s ban HVHF (High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing) in New York State. Cuomo’s acting Health Commissioner, Howard Zucker, announced that the “potential risks” of fracking are too great and recommend a ban on this form of gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale rock formation which runs through several states including Pennsylvania. Dr. Zucker said his review of the latest science boiled down to a simple question: “Would he want his family to live in a community where fracking was taking place?”
Cuomo’s action seals off about 12 million acres of the Marcellus Shale from natural gas drilling. The rationale was that the environmental and health costs of fracking outweigh the economic benefits. The Green Party of Pennsylvania has contended the same all along.
In contrast, Pennsylvania’s Governor elect Tom Wolf is clear that he intends to continue opposing a ban in Pennsylvania. Following New York’s announcement, Wolf’s Press Secretary, Jeffery Sheridan said Pennsylvania is “an energy leader with all Pennsylvanians sharing in the prosperity” reminding the public of Wolf’s campaign promise to tax the fracking industry in order to fund, among other things, struggling PA public schools.
PA Green 2014 gubernatorial candidate, Paul Glover quips, “No amount of frack tax revenue can pay for the permanent damage to our state's water”.
Green Party State Chair, Jay Sweeney supports Andrew Cuomo’s decision stating, “The Green Party of Pennsylvania appreciates the wisdom and courage exhibited by New York Governor’s decision to ban fracking. We congratulate those who held his feet to the fire and the activists in Pennsylvania who showed the dangers and the harm caused by fracking. The Green Party of Pennsylvania completely disagrees with Governor elect Tom Wolf and maintain our position that fracking should be banned in Pennsylvania as well”.
But environmental activist and Green Party Lieutenant Governor candidate, Wendy Lynn Lee cautions: “Cuomo's decision does not mean that New York doesn't remain home to all manner of other frack-related infrastructure--including their own pipeline fights, sand production, etc.” and adds, “If Wolf gets his way with an extraction tax, the industry will become entrenched in the state's tax base. Education will become dependent on it 'til the boom goes bust, and then the industry will do what it was always going to do: leave. They will leave a wasteland that will make the border between New York and Pennsylvania seem like that between a corpse and a living human being; and in many ways, that will be literally true.”
The Green Party of Pennsylvania has consistently distinguished itself from other political parties by condemning the polluting and hazardous practice of natural gas extraction. Their 2011 platform reads: Be it resolved that, we, citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and members of the Green Party of Pennsylvania, call for the termination and prohibition of all natural gas extraction involving the use of our Commonwealth’s water resources. We call for a ban immediately to stop all high volume, slick water, horizontal fracturing of deep shale, including exploration, in Pennsylvania and worldwide.
Sources:
PoliticsPA December 17, 2014
http://thewrenchphilosleft.blogspot.com/2014_12_01_archive.html