New York Governor Andrew Cuomo just decided not to allow fracking in his state. This comes, allegedly, after the state’s Health Commissioner, Howard Zucker, recommended against allowing the drilling method citing too many red flags. Already the Governor’s decision has resulted in dissent but, not surprisingly, he has drawn cheers from environmentalists.

In light of Cuomo’s decision, a fascinating article was recently published in The UK Guardian talking about how the New York fracking ban will literally ruin local businesses. One apple farmer, David Johnson, is quoted as saying that he may have to give up his farm that has been in his family for 150 years. Landowners predominately in New York’s southern tier who sit on top of the Marcellus Shale that also runs through Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania had hoped to benefit from fracking. But thanks to Cuomo’s decree they will not be able to.

“We’re just falling apart in the Southern Tier,” Johnson said. “I make a living from people coming to my farm. But we’re losing population. The people who are left have less money to spend. Every year my business decreases. We try new things, I raise prices, but the trend continues no different from any other industry in the Southern Tier.”

The Guardian does point out that some local landowners, like organic farmers and vineyard owners, did not want fracking on their or their neighbor’s land and agreed with Cuomo’s decision. However, allowing drilling would have helped struggling farms (like David Johnson) and helped create new jobs. Apparently, rather than basing his decision on science, Zucker’s recommendation was based on gas’ low price and the fact that fracking is banned in over half of New York’s part of the Marcellus region due to local prohibitions intended to protect water supplies and other reasons.

Hopefully, property owners who seek to allow fracking will be able to overturn Cuomo's decision by challenging it in court. Meantime, those that had hoped to benefit from fracking are out of luck. In the US political system a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority. In this case, New York implemented, with environmentalist sanction, Latin America’s approach by letting one man write the law in regards to environmental policy.