Tagged: fracking

Health Impact Assessment studies (HIAs) have emerged as the benchmark for evaluating the effect of public policy on community health. In recent times HIAs have been in the spotlight, thanks to calls from advocates for one to be commissioned on hydraulic fracturing in New York.

Recently, the state’s first HIA has been completed, but not on a topic you might have expected.

New York’s top court has been asked to decide whether local governments can ban the practice of hydraulic fracturing.

Last month a mid-level appeals court ruled unanimously in favor of upholding local bans in the towns of Dryden and Middlefield, meaning there’s no requirement for the case to be taken up by the top court.