New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ended years of contentious debate Wednesday by announcing that the health and environmental risks of fracking were greater than the benefits and that the controversial method of harvesting natural gas would be banned in the state. An unofficial ban on hydraulic fracturing has been in practice in New York for more than five years.
During fracking, water and chemicals are injected at high pressure into subterranean rocks, forcing open fissures that contain oil or gas. It.has already been banned in dozens of municipalites in New York, with the blessing of the state’s Court of Appeals, which ruled that towns could use zoning ordinances to ban fracking.