New Jersey Fracking Ban: Gov. Chris Christie's 1-Year Recommendation Accepted By Lawmakers

TRENTON, N.J. -- The New Jersey Legislature has accepted Gov. Chris Christie's recommendation for a one-year ban on a natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, rather than continue to pursue a permanent ban.

The Senate and Assembly accepted Christie's conditional veto of legislation banning fracking outright late Monday.

The governor returned the bill to the Legislature in August with the recommendation that the ban be lifted in a year, rather than be made permanent.

Environmentalists had hoped the Democratic-controlled Legislature would try to override the governor's conditional veto.

The legislation is largely symbolic because there's not enough natural gas to drill for under New Jersey.

However, opponents say New Jersey could have sent a message about the importance of ensuring water quality by enacting an outright ban.

Comments

[Jay Lewis]

01:24 AM on 01/12/2012

The real Christy emerges, sans all the charm of his colorful made-man hostilities.

Where are the citizens of NJ and other states, when they elect governors who proceed to make ruin of their geography for big fat envelopes?

Stand up, America, and stop this madness.

[MCTSilverlakeCA]

01:35 AM on 01/11/2012

A good idea which I hope will stand when Petro-China tries to buy up half of the fields as an "investment" or place to "train it's engineers" in the techniques of fracking, as they did this past year in Canada- buying up the entire MacKay field, and one third of 5 major new fields in the US - of a combined output estimated at 1250 Trillion Cubic feet - more than the current entire world output combined. And where is Congress who is supposed to be safeguarding our natural Resources? On vacation, Saber rattling against the EPA, FDA, and the new Consurmer Protection Agency...

[jlkitts]

10:27 PM on 01/10/2012

All this frickin' fracing is frustrating !

[Harriet Shugarman]

06:38 PM on 01/10/2012

Opportunity lost for NJ to stand strong on the environment

[JDINTX]

05:54 PM on 01/10/2012

They said there wasn't natural gas in Pa,NY and Ohio. There wasn't oil in North Dakota. Surprise, surprise, when we actually look for domestic resources, guess what's found?
Fracking is the latest cause celebre of the enviorbots, because they can't find another objection to clean burning natural gas.
Where's the outrage over thousands of birds, many of them endangered, killed every year by wind turbines. Anyone working on how to dispose of billions of mercury containing CFL light bulbs, the enviornmental hazard of all the new batteries needing replacement after less than a dozen years or the millions of solar panels which require changing every six years?
No, those issues are swept aside by a compliant media more concerned with touting the "green"
than doing their job

[pjlim]

06:38 PM on 01/10/2012

Mouthpiece for the gas drilling industry much?????

[JDINTX]

11:45 PM on 01/10/2012

That's your answer? Care to address any of the points I raised? Or are you content calling people names.

[mhh310351]

06:59 PM on 01/10/2012

But a smile on your face young man! We are going to shine & blow our way to energy independence!

[JDINTX]

11:47 PM on 01/10/2012

I wish I was a young man and I wish I shared your optimism.

[Fanslacker]

06:16 PM on 02/08/2012

How can you be so utterly ignorant? Hahahahaha...have you ever heard of the 3 laws of thermodynamics? You obviously haven't slightest clue. HINT: Regarding heat exchange and energy transfer....THERE IS NO "FREE LUNCH". I realize this crushes the fantasies of the left wing collectivist touchy feely "I am my brothers keeper" crowd. But it is a law of physics. A law can not simply be repealed by your "Congress". LOL!

[Vic22]

04:06 PM on 01/10/2012

Welp, there goes his chances in 2016. Its against conservative law these days to put sustainability and environment over jobs

[jlkitts]

10:29 PM on 01/10/2012

Wait a minute. He vetoed the fracking ban. He got the Democratic legislature to make it a one year ban instead of permanent.

[koos458]

03:20 PM on 01/10/2012

Fracking has been known to be an enviormental disaster since it was thought up many years ago. The only reason we have it is because the "Cheney" bill exempted fracking from regulation and liability.

[mhh310351]

07:10 PM on 01/10/2012

That's like saying making solar cells is an environmental disaster since it was thought up many years ago using dirty coal energy in this energy intensive manufacturing and using NF3 17,000 stronger greenhouse gas than CO2 and longed lived 500+ years.

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_greenhouse_gas_that_nobody_knew/2085/

Or making giant wind turbines in an environmental disaster because of using rare earth metals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/business/global/30smuggle.html

[jlkitts]

10:29 PM on 01/10/2012

please speak english !

[koos458]

12:18 PM on 01/11/2012

I would like to get paid for posting comments. Let me know. If there is money involved, I'll shamelessly sell out, too.

[NWBrunette]

03:15 PM on 01/11/2012

Exactly right.

[jsgaetano]

03:13 PM on 01/10/2012

This will give Christie enough time to get millions in bribes from ALEC.

[const56]

02:56 PM on 01/10/2012

Please bring fracking to our state of NJ. Do we really need to be scared off from the environmental lobby who don't support ANY domestic fuel resources.

[pat k]

03:20 PM on 01/10/2012

Please tell me the benefits of fracking, and why you support it.

[JDINTX]

06:02 PM on 01/10/2012

Fracking allows access to huge amounts of clean burning natural gas. Even using today's reserves, we have two CENTURIES of supply. Autos and trucks could be converted to natgas for less than a hundred dollars. An infrastructure program could convert the country to running on natgas in less than a decade.
ASK WHY,WHY,WHY there is zero push from this Administration to convert to natgas?

[mhh310351]

07:12 PM on 01/10/2012

the average cost of heating my home has declined 40% in 4 years where everything else has gone up!

[deborah kitzul]

02:48 PM on 01/10/2012

well maybe he has a little bit of a brain in there after all

making these permits permanent or 99 year leases should never be done for any company. the damage mega corps do is devastating and they have managed to take advantage of homeowners when leases run out and they could deny continuation of drilling or barter for a better financial rate. One company sold their fracking company to another company, when the lease ran out on the new company, they went to court and the courts forced the homeowners to continue the lease their land and at the old and lower rate of pay for drilling. No justice for the people at all.

Watch Gasland.

[mhh310351]

07:14 PM on 01/10/2012

And if you want information on becoming a surgeon I would suggest the equally informative series of movies Called, 'Nightmare on Elm Street"!

Saw the flaming faucet trick in PA in the 60's!

[mmcgrew]

02:39 PM on 01/10/2012

WIth a little luck, the low price of natural gas will slow down fracking until more info is available.

[RemarkingMark]

02:37 PM on 01/10/2012

Be thankful New Jersians, you will have drinkable water for another year.

[koos458]

03:19 PM on 01/10/2012

Depends on if their neighbors are fracking, too.

[mhh310351]

08:26 PM on 01/10/2012

was it drinkable before?

[donaldaq63]

02:36 PM on 01/10/2012

New Jersey, the Garden State, the hotbed for so many SuperFund sites. They do NOT need more problems that fracking brings to aquifers. Energy independence is very important, but not at the expense of safe drinking water for Americans and CERTAINLY NOT for the bottom line of energy companies. More work on making renewable sources more economic, more efficient and more conservation efforts are needed to reach the goal of an energy self-sufficient country. Sadly this is made more difficult by the ever increasing profusion of electronic devices that we all "seem" to need in our lives.

[JDINTX]

06:07 PM on 01/10/2012

No study has ever shown that fracking has caused contamination to any aquifer. Tell me which renewable can make your car run? Electric is the most disengenuous source of power, solar, wind? Biofuels use more energy than they produce and ethanol is the biggest boondoggle in energy ever, costing taxpayers $6 billion in subsidies and higher prices at the pump.
Natural gas is the most obvious answer

[jdwlor]

02:35 PM on 01/10/2012

Which would you rather run out of,Gas or water.gas won't keep you alive,water ,atleast you have half of life saving elements.

[mhh310351]

09:06 PM on 01/10/2012

It's not an either or situation.

[rwi3650001]

02:35 PM on 01/10/2012

I just read where a large cargo ship broke apart and is sinking in the ocean. Are we going to ban all ocean going ships too? If one jet plane crashes are we going to stop all flights? If we have and automobile accident are we going to ban car travel? If I break my leg while snow skiing, will you ban snow skiing? If I slip in the bath tub and break my hip are you going to ban bathing?.....Let's use our brain people.

[dbloomslm]

02:47 PM on 01/10/2012

Accidents are not the same as deliberately destroying the geological structure deepm within the earth. Consequences of these actions are not really known. Lets find out.

[JDINTX]

06:12 PM on 01/10/2012

And when will there be enough evidence to satisfy enviros who are categorically opposed to natural gas, regardless of how it is captured. That's the problem, not fracking. They believe natgas will make their quest for clean,green,renewables obsolete

[vuduvampirninjawitch]

02:55 PM on 01/10/2012

I say we ban these "Brains" you speak of. They seem to be the cause of all this.