The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced for the first time Thursday that hydraulic fracturing may be to blame for causing groundwater pollution. And predictably, the reaction in the Southern Tier fell along the long-held beliefs of environmentalists and pro-drillers.
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."
BINGHAMTON -- About 200 people spoke Monday during the first day of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's final public meeting on its hydraulic fracturing study, but did the agency get the feedback it desired?
An EPA official said Tuesday it did.
The Binghamton meeting marks the last of four across the country meant to solicit input on the scope of EPA's multi-million-dollar study, which is to take a look at the potential relationship between groundwater and hydrofracking, a natural gas drilling technique.
State Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton wants to slow it down.
Sen. Thomas Libous is for speeding it up.
Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo is torn between extremes.
Elected officials taking a position on Marcellus Shale development are facing strident demands from stakeholders who could become rich, go broke or possibly abandon hope, depending on Albany's response.
