Liz Lawyer

Ithaca -- For anti-hydraulic fracturing activists like Ithaca environmentalist Walter Hang, Tuesday was D-Day.

On the last day to submit comments on the state Department of Environmental Conservation's draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, those who oppose the use of the natural gas drilling method in New York gathered at rallies in major cities across the state.

Ithaca -- Landowners who believe their drinking water has been affected by drilling activity in central and western New York said they have had trouble getting the state Department of Environmental Conservation to thoroughly investigate their cases.

David and Kelly Ferrugia, a couple in Chautauqua County in the far western tip of the state, have been unable to get their questions answered about why their water quality changed six years ago.

Ithaca -- Ithaca activists say the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's announcement of a new health assessment for trichloroethylene labeling it as a known carcinogen is a moral victory but not all that useful in efforts to clean up the South Hill neighborhood.

Trichloroethylene, or TCE, was used by the Morse Chain factory, which occupied the facility now known as the former Emerson Power Transmission plant. Use of the chemical ended in the late 1970s, but it remains at the site and downhill from it, in the soil and rock beneath the South Hill neighborhood.

U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey said he hopes to draw a clear line between his stance on slickwater hydraulic fracturing and that of his opponent, George Phillips, in the race for the 22nd Congressional District.

Hinchey on Wednesday joined more than 10,000 others in signing a letter urging Gov. David Paterson to withdraw a draft environmental impact statement on oil and gas drilling in the state.

Hinchey signed the letter, drafted by local environmental activist and president of Ithaca company Toxics Targeting Walter Hang, at an event on The Commons.