Maryland’s Democratic legislature voted Monday to permanently ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking,
The proposal, which was passed by Maryland’s Senate and House, is waiting on a signature from Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican who has signaled support for an outright ban, despite campaigning as a natural gas proponent in 2014. A statewide moratorium on fracking expires in October.
The ban will affect citizens in western Maryland, an area located over the Marcellus shale formation, the largest natural gas formation in the U.S. A boom in fracking vaulted Pennsylvania to the number two natural gas producer in the country last year.
Landowners on the shale formation can make up to $35,000 a month in royalties payments. Some studies meanwhile show that a typical well generates about $4 million in economic benefits.
“Today’s vote is a result of the work of thousands of Marylanders who came out to town halls, hearings, and rallies across the state,” Mitch Jones, a senior policy advocate with Food & Water Watch, said in a statement Monday.
He added that their work was instrumental in holding “our legislators and the governor … accountable to the demands of voters and followed the science.”
Environmentalists believe fracking infuses drinking water with carcinogens, increases the risk of earthquakes, and violates citizen’s property rights. The Environmental Protection Agency, among other research groups, maintain that there is virtually no long-term negative effect from fracking.
“From our assessment, we conclude there are above and below ground mechanisms by which hydraulic fracturing activities have the potential to impact drinking water resources. We did not find evidence that these mechanisms have led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States,” according to a five-year study on the impacts of fracking published by the EPA in June 2015.
Even studies financially supported by environmentalists find no effect on water quality from fracking.
A three-year study by the University of Cincinnati published in 2016, for instance, found that fracking couldn’t contaminate groundwater even though it was paid for by environmentalists.
“Our funders, the groups that had given us funding in the past, were a little disappointed in our results,” Amy Townsend-Small, the study’s lead researcher, told Newsweek in April. “We haven’t seen anything to show that wells have been contaminated by fracking.”
Hogan said in February that he felt compelled to voice support for a ban after Senate President Mike Miller proposed a referendum next year asking voters if they support fracking. Miller is not a fracking proponent but wants citizens to decide for themselves whether the method should be used to extract the state’s natural gas.
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