No Earthquakes in New York, Please!

I've always felt a bit relieved that New York is not prone to earthquakes, tornados, volcanoes and the like. But two recent articles caused me to rethink this. Hydraulic fracture drilling for gas (hydrofracking) has caused earthquakes in locations hitherto unknown for being earthquake prone. Geologists found that over 1,000 small earthquakes occurred in central Arkansas due to this drilling process. Drilling operations there have been temporarily suspended while this is investigated. Then there was the news in June of this year that fracking operations in Blackpool, United Kingdom caused a 1.5 magnitude quake at the end of May and a 2.3 magnitude earthquake in April.

It stands to reason that using extremely high pressure to break up layers of shale rock and to release trapped oil would have repercussions. This is in addition to what we already know about the water pollution and other negative effects of the process. Please contact Governor Cuomo and make it clear that New Yorkers do not want hydrofracking in our state.

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