In Monroe County, anti-fracking activists have struggled to get government officials to take fracking-related issues seriously. In particular, they’ve asked the county to pass a law banning its water treatment facilities from taking fracking waste, but their requests have fallen flat.
Erie County is a different story. Yesterday, its Legislature passed a law banning fracking on all county-owned property. And it goes further. According to a Buffalo News article published today, “The law also prohibits introducing drilling waste into any county-owned facility such as a waste water treatment plant and outlaws spreading of ‘fracking’ byproducts on county roads.”
This is exactly the type of law that fracktivists want Monroe County to pass. Fracking is unlikely to happen in Monroe in the near future, but activists worry that the county could take steps to accept fracking waste at county water treatment plants or that the county-owned Mill Seat Landfill could begin to take in drill tailings.
Unlike the Monroe County Legislature, Erie County’s body has more Democrats than Republicans, though according to the News article, some Republicans did back the fracking law. But Monroe County’s Republican administration and its allies in the County Legislature’s Republican majority have sat on Democratic fracking-related legislation.
This article appears in Dec 11-17, 2013.
You have captured the frustration in our Monroe County perfectly! I’d like to remind folks that when you hear the terminology to “ban fracking” we are not just talking about a drilling technique. The issues of toxic waste and toxic water is a grave issue! Ever wonder why PA wants to ship this stuff out of state?? No one talks about the great economic gain of having toxic injection wells on their land. No one wants frack waste water sprayed on their road.
Monroe County, like Erie, has a major water source connecting to our Great Lake Ontario. The Genesee River starts in PA……..that alone should be cause for concern! We need our own county legislature to address the toxic industry around drilling for shale gas.
We need them to but I wouldn’t hold my breath on it.
Anti-fracking kooks are the same Luddite Neanderthals who refuse to vaccinate their kids against dreadful diseases; consult a horoscope before getting out of bed in the morning; enjoy the blessings of modern transportation, industry, and agriculture while sanctimoniously denouncing them; and who think the Koch brothers are secretly controlling their thoughts by means of special rays.