BINGHAMTON — State lawmakers are joining with activists from our local area to push Governor Cuomo to put a hold on fossil fuel development.

Ithaca-area Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton is heading up an event in Binghamton today, where she’s putting a letter forward to the governor to call for a moratorium on projects involving fossil fuels. Those include pipelines, compressor stations, power plants, and other infrastructure projects.

Walter Hang, president of the Ithaca environmental firm Toxics Targeting, is supporting Lifton’s letter. He says the move she’s proposing is historic.

“We’re telling Governor Cuomo he’s got to stop authorizing these projects that are simply going to perpetuate New York’s addiction to fossil fuels,” he said. “No other state has ever taken this landmark action, and this is an incredibly brave and very, very wise effort.”

Hang says while alternatives like solar and wind power are vital, people can’t sit around and wait for them to take off.

“So many thousands of people and groups and activists just like to worship at the temple of renewable energy,” he said. “That’s great, but we need a Plan B for our energy future in New York, and that plan is no more fossil fuel investments.”

Hang says he’ll be releasing a letter of his own, echoing Lifton’s, to officials, activists, and other people across the state in order to gather more support.