To Frack or Not To Frack? An Examination of Public Opinion of Hydraulic Fracturing in New York and Pennsylvania

As hydraulic fracturing becomes common practice through out the United States, state governments have established a wide array of policies related to the regulation and taxation of natural gas extraction. Perhaps nowhere is the difference in policy approaches to fracking more pronounced that between New York and Pennsylvania. These neighboring states that sit above the gas-rich Marcellus shale deposits have taken dramatically different approaches to the regulation of fracking within their borders. While New York has maintained a five year moratorium on fracking its neighbor to the south has enacted one of the more industry friendly policies with the passage of Act 13 in early 2012. This stark difference in policy approaches by adjacent states over the same shale play raises the question why such variation exists? In this study we examine the role that public opinion has played in the varied fracking policy adoption in New York and Pennsylvania.