Green groups disagree with Moniz’s ‘rhetoric’ on fracking
By Scott Waldman
A coalition of New York's environmental groups sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on Tuesday, after an interview with Capital in which he praised the job-creating potential of hydraulic fracturing.
Moniz cited Pennsylvania's experience with fracking as "amazing," saying drilling had "enormous economic benefits for the state" that could possibly help New York too.
But the state's environmental groups, which have so far succeeded in prolonging a moratorium on drilling, responded by saying the economic benefits had been overstated and that pro-fracking arguments were industry "rhetoric."
“A growing body of studies and emerging data provide a compelling case for a ban on fracking,” the groups wrote to Moniz. “Contrary to the arguments of the pro-fracking interest groups, this is a decision that is too important to be rushed by an industry that is looking for a quick profit – an industry that misleads the public by stifling science and public awareness with non-disclosure agreements, doctor gag orders, and that has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to get exemptions from our nation’s most basic environmental protections.”
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/02/8540488/green-groups-disagree-monizs-rhetoric-fracking