My brother is an exec for a large independent oil company heavily invested in fracking. I live in NYC. After having long conversations with him about his job, the company and the industry, I'm glad fracking in NY is banned for several reasons.

The industry is too secretive about the chemicals they are pumping into the ground. I don't care they say the chemicals are safe. Don't really care the EPA says they are safe. What I care about is a private company pumping undisclosed chemicals into huge swaths of public and private lands. What the EPA says is safe now, we may discover is actually damaging (and the EPA is far from a trustworthy party, they've ignored environmental concerns in the past). If you truly believe it is safe, disclose the chemical soup. When you are pumping that much shit into the environment you shouldn't have the right to argue trade secrets.

The industry doesn't care about the public's safety if it stands in the way of profit. Companies large and small will cut corners to increase profit and when that happens, the public pays the price. The industry will ignore environmental problems until the chorus is loud enough, then they'll argue there isn't enough information (look at fracking and the Oklahoma earthquakes). Well, if there isn't enough information to free you from blame, there probably isn't enough information to prove what you are doing is safe, so stop until we have that information, the risks to the environment and public are too great.

The country has bent over backwards for the oil industry for far too long. It's time to make them jump through more hoops than they can imagine. Let's bend over backwards for the renewables industry a change (where I believe the oil companies should be taking a lead anyway, you're an energy company, diversify).

The EPA didn't say fracking was safe and reported several instances of contaminated water because of fracking. What the EPA report said was the number of contaminated wells was small compared to the number of wells. The EPA believes the problems with water pollution are not systemic to fracking.

From the EPA:
"We did not find evidence that these mechanisms have led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States. Of the potential mechanisms identified in this report, we found specific instances where one or more mechanisms led to impacts on drinking water resources, including contamination of drinking water wells. The number of identified cases, however, was small compared to the number of hydraulically fractured wells."

One of the largest concerns with fracking is surface water pollution. The flowback liquid from fracking contains water and a number of contaminants, including radioactive material, heavy metals, hydrocarbons and other toxins. This wastewater is stored on the fracking site in open air pits, injected into deep underground wells or disposed of off-site at a wastewater treatment facility (few small town facilities can handles fracking flowback).

The industry has a long history of ignoring old, aging well sites and pipelines that eventually start polluting because maintenance was stopped to increase profits.

It's very simple. If the industry didn't have a long history of choosing the pollution causing bottom line over the public's interest, I'd have fewer problems with fracking. The industry has made great strides in trying to be a better neighbor but they have a long way to go before I find them even remotely trustworthy.

Edit: I don't have a problem with oil as an energy source, it's an important industry. I have a problem with bad actors and the oil industry has been allowed to become one big bad actor. You want a pipeline across the country? No problem, show me that you can build one that one that won't break or leak, and when it does, show me you'll take responsibility and fix the problem (and all the other problems caused by your leaky pipeline). The oil industry has a long history of ignoring, dodging or shifting blame. As long as they continue to do that I believe we should be shifting our focus, our money and our back bending to alternative energy sources.