THESE TWO STATES HAD THE SAME BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT FRACKING; THEY MADE VERY DIFFERENT DECISIONS

Interesting: NY bans fracking and MD allows it. The difference is which department did the study. Perhaps the Dept. of Health should be determining if the Keystone Landfill should be allowed to expand, especially given how much fracking waste it accepts. This excerpt is from an article titled “These Two States Had the Same Basic Information about Fracking; They Made Very Different Decisions”:

“In Maryland, the Environment and Natural Resources departments did the study [similar to our DEP], whereas in New York it was the Department of Health, observes Stanford’s Rob Jackson, who has published a number of influential studies on the link between fracking and groundwater contamination. "It’s not surprising that a health department would frame the issue differently – and reach a different conclusion,” said Jackson. Environment and natural resources departments [like DEP] are more likely to balance health and environmental risks against economic promise – but health departments primarily worry about protecting people.“ (emphasis added)

Washington Post
December 22, 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/12/22/these-two-states-had-the-same-basic-information-about-fracking-they-made-very-different-decisions/