Jon Campbell

ALBANY – During a campaign stop Wednesday in Buffalo, Gov. Andrew Cuomo heaped praise on Terry Pegula.

A coalition of groups opposed to hydraulic fracturing in New York held a news conference in Binghamton on Monday to call on the state to withdraw a six-years-in-the-making environmental review.






From the Press & Sun-Bulletin's Steven Howe:

ALBANY — New York’s long-awaited decision on whether to allow hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale likely won’t come before April 2015, the state’s top environmental regulator said Monday.

Joseph Martens, the state environmental conservation commissioner, told reporters that it’s “extremely unlikely” any permits for high-volume fracking will be issued before the close of the state’s next fiscal year, which runs through March 31, 2015.

ALBANY – New York’s health review of hydraulic fracturing will continue behind closed doors because science needs to be conducted in a “sacred place,” the state’s top health official said Monday.

State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah told reporters Monday that the science surrounding high-volume fracking continues to “evolve” and that scientific work must be conducted in private to maintain objectivity.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he's comfortable with the state's review of hydraulic fracturing, telling reporters in Utica that his administration is "doing the best we can to understand all the facts."

A Southern Tier assemblywoman is asking the state to put an immediate pause on the Health Department’s review of hydraulic fracturing, instead calling for a more-comprehensive analysis that is “transparent and thorough.”

In a letter this week to state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens, Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, D-Endwell, Broome County, knocked the state’s current review of fracking’s health impacts.

A Southern Tier assemblywoman is asking the state to put an immediate pause on the Health Department's review of hydraulic fracturing, instead calling for a more-comprehensive analysis that is "transparent and thorough."

In a letter Wednesday to state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens, Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, D-Endwell, Broome County, knocked the state's current review of fracking's health impacts.

Albany Watch
by Jon Campbell

Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Texas, Illinois and California over the past several months, according to the Department of Health.

The Wall Street Journal wrote Monday about the trips Health Commissioner Nirav Shah has made as he completes a review of hydraulic fracturing for the state.

When asked about the trips, Health Department spokesman Bill Schwarz provided a timeline of events, which can be found below.

Walter Hang, the owner of Ithaca-based Toxics Targeting and a well-known organizer in the Southern Tier, said he's focusing his efforts on the Binghamton University stop.

In an email Monday to thousands of fracking critics, Hang said the Obama visit will "dwarf all others in importance."

"We're working with as many groups as we possibly can to make this a national event on shale fracking," Hang said. "We're going to be putting out the call to action to groups in Pennsylvania and Ohio and all over New York."

ALBANY — After five years, hundreds of thousands of public comments and an electorate that remains split on the divisive issue, what has amounted to a moratorium on shale-gas drilling in New York remains in place.