Manhattan borough president calls for drilling moratorium

Manhattan politician releases gas drilling report

On a conference call with reporters, borough president Scott Stringer said that the report documents dozens of incidents in nine states where hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has resulted in leaks, spills, water contamination and explosions.

A line from a related press release read, “From a water well in Wyoming with a concentration of benzene 1,500 times the level safe for human consumption, to a house in Bainbridge, OH that exploded in a fiery ball, to contaminated wells discovered just two months ago across the New York State line in Dimock, PA, the report presents a substantial catalogue of activity from around the United States that demands a pause and careful review before New York State embraces this method of drilling for natural gas.”

Stringer, who was joined on the call by several environmental advocates, said that fracking fluids present a threat to the city’s water supply. He’s calling for drilling companies to reveal the ingredients of the fracking fluids they use, and he wants fracking fluids to be tracked underground to determine where they are going. He also said safer versions of the fluids should be studied.

And get this: Drilling companies are not allowed to use the same toxic frack fluids in offshore drilling.