Phase I Environmental Database Services

ALBANY - Opponents of natural gas drilling in the Southern Tier's Marcellus Shale formation today are cheering the state Senate's approval of a short-term moratorium late Tuesday night.

The measure sailed through the Senate, 48-9. If approved by the Assembly and Gov. David Paterson, permits to drill for natural gas in the formation would be delayed until May 15, 2011.

Now focus turns to the Assembly, where supporters of the drilling moratorium believe it could be taken up soon.

A $7.8 million lease offer for the natural gas rights to thousands of acres of Broome County land was overwhelmingly rejected Thursday night by the Broome County Legislature.

BINGHAMTON -- A proposed plan for a state-mandated review of a Broome County natural gas lease drew concern from a Department of Environmental Conservation official in September, according to internal correspondence.

Betty Ann Hughes, then the DEC's chief of State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) and training, said in a pair of messages that without the county completing some analysis of "the potential impacts of typical development activities" on land offered for lease, she would be "concerned that the lease action and supporting SEQR record could be vulnerable to challenge."

ITHACA -- Andrew Cuomo made the campaign rounds through the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier on Thursday, promoting his call for reform in Albany.

While here, the Democratic candidate for governor heard from many promoting the need to prevent natural gas drilling in the region's Marcellus Shale.

Cuomo spoke in Ithaca and in Montour Falls on Thursday, finding natural gas protesters at both sites, especially in Ithaca.

One was dressed in a hazardous material suit marked with the phrase "Inspector for 1,000 wells" and holding a "box of loopholes." Another held an empty leash and a sign that read "My dog drank the water."

In a gathering on The Ithaca Commons before Cuomo's scheduled appearance, Toxics Targeting president and gas drilling activist Walter Hang congratulated local activists for helping to put the brakes on drilling.

"The longer we push this off, the longer the de facto moratorium on gas drilling stays in place," Hang said.

He held up a recent letter from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency outlining significant concerns with the scope and content of the state Department of Conservation's environmental impact statement draft under review.

"This could be our salvation," Hang said. "We've got to kill the draft with the EPA's help."

Cuomo said he was expecting such a reaction.