Focus on fracking: A tale of 2 states

In December 2016, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York took the historic step of signing a fracking moratorium, listing seismic dangers as one of the reasons to leave his state's astounding bonanza of energy resources under the ground.

Granted, in the entire history of the Empire State, the number of fatalities due to earthquakes equals the deaths caused by attacks by Godzilla: Both are zero. So it is certainly inexplicable that New York's authorities should not only eschew the energy riches beneath their very feet but do so for a reason bordering on the inexplicable.

Indeed, fracking does induce seismicity, though that fact should be of interest to the governor of California rather than New York. Yet deep injections are taking place at the worst possible locale for such activities, at the southern end of the San Andreas — on the most dangerous part of that fault line, the Coachella Valley segment — where geothermal plants are producing electricity and ignoring real warnings by world-class scientists.

Westmoreland County should be thankful that its civil and scientific authorities can at least tell east from west, as well as for them refraining from issuing sasquatch alerts — or fracking moratoriums, striving mightily to avoid earthquakes that are as likely to happen in the county as a comet striking.

Such sane leadership pays dividends.

Sixty-five billion cubic feet of natural gas are produced yearly in this county, driving down energy costs, infusing the economy with good jobs, increasing disposable income and improving the region's ability to attract new business and industry. And this sane energy policy is reflected in the standard of living on one side of the Pennsylvania/New York border as opposed to the other.

New York electric rates average over 20 cents per kilowatt hour — 45 percent higher than the national average — while Pennsylvanians pay less than 8 cents per kilowatt hour.

There are some 100 to 200 trillion feet of natural gas under New York, a state that pretends it doesn't need to extract it and then bizarrely buys that same resource from neighboring Pennsylvania. Future economists might scratch their heads looking back on this strange commerce and wondering what was going through the minds of New Yorkers, since this trade is akin to shipping ice to Nome and having the residents actually line up to purchase it.

But then again, Alaskans aren't known for their foolishness; the landscape there is much too rugged for nonsense to flourish.

Residents of Westmoreland County should be doubly grateful that their community has also avoided the imprudence of New York and without having to be schooled in such an unforgiving environment as Alaska. This holiday season, that is certainly something for which to be thankful.

David Nabhan (davidwrites100@aol.com ) is a science writer (“Earthquake Prediction: Dawn of the New Seismology”) and Newsmax science columnist.