Debate on Fracking: Was Syracuse Right to Ban the Controversial Natural Gas Drilling Process?

Debate on Fracking: Was Syracuse Right to Ban the Controversial Natural Gas Drilling Process?.  Amy Goodman, Democracy Now  Nov. 4, 2011

• Debate on Fracking: Was Syracuse Right to Ban the Controversial Natural Gas Drilling Process?

  

  We’re broadcasting live from Syracuse, which recently became the third city in New York state to ban the natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The Syracuse Common Council voted unanimously last week to ban fracking within city limits. They also voted to limit where wastewater from the fracking process can be stored. Fracking is controversial because it injects millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals deep into the earth in order to break up shale rock and release natural gas. Many feel this extraction process raises a myriad of human health and environmental issues. Supporters of fracking say it has led to an exponential increase in gas production and has not been harmful to either the environment or human health. To find out more about the issue of fracking, we host a discussion with three guests: Kathleen Joy, Syracuse Common Council majority leader, who led the city’s efforts to ban hydrofracking; Don Siegel, professor of earth sciences at Syracuse University; and Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper with the Council of Chiefs of the Onondaga Nation. [includes rush transcript]