Why Fight for a Ban in New York?
We Called for a Ban on Fracking in Spite of Conventional “Wisdom” At the time, any statewide ban — especially in a state with major below-ground gas reserves, like New York — was said to be politi- cally impossible. In 2012, a majority of people in the U.S. who knew about fracking supported it. The oil and gas industry was (and still is) a behe- moth in national politics. The industry’s messaging — “energy independence,” “bridge fuel,” “jobs and prosperity” — was every- where. Some national environmental organizations were partnering with gas companies and working with regulators on fracking. Several joined the Cuomo administration’s working group to craft frack- ing regulations.
Grassroots energy was already building in New York. People were mobilizing against fracking, and they felt deeply about it.
We had a better chance of stopping fracking before it started than curbing it once it began. Growing evidence of fracking’s harms and cautionary tales from other states bolstered our case.
Just the word “ fracking ” was a gift to the campaign. It sounded awful — like nothing you’d want near your home.
But given what we’d learned from front- line communities, it was clear that fracking couldn’t be made safer through regulations; it needed to be banned completely. And we decided we’d fight for a ban, no matter how impossible it seemed. So in March 2011, Food & Water Watch be- came the first national environmental orga- nization to call for a ban on fracking. Shortly thereafter, we released a second report, “The Case for a Ban on Gas Fracking.”
We saw potential in Governor Cuomo as a target. He had a lot of leverage points, like his larger political ambitions, that we could put pressure on to move him to act.
The media market was large and powerful in New York. We knew we could get lots of eyes on our work at the state and national level.
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