Just before Christmas, the New York State Department of Health released its long-awaited report on the public health effects of hydrofracking, resulting in New York State’s highly publicized decision to continue to ban the natural gas extraction process known as high volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF).1 This article discusses the Health Department report, its ramifications, and the legal framework in which it was produced.
Legal Framework of Fracking
Although the Health Department Report provided the basis for the state to continue its ban on HVHF, the Health Department is not the state agency charged with regulating (or prohibiting) HVHF, nor is oil and gas extraction new to New York State. As we reported back in 2009, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has regulated oil and gas drilling (including low-volume hydraulic fracturing) for many years—well before the word fracking even was a part of the vernacular—under the Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Law, pursuant to a 1992 generic environmental impact statement prepared under the State’s Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).2
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