WENY

UPDATE: The City of Ithaca Zoning Board has voted to table any further development approvals until the board can review more information regarding the recent environmental concerns. The Stone Quarry Apartment complex will be back on the board's agenda next meeting, August 26th.

Tioga County (WENY) - Deep shale hydrofracking could be coming to the Southern tier a lot sooner than a lot of people think. A company has come up with a way to do it without using millions of gallons of water.

And a group of about two-thousand local land owners, called Southern Tier Energy Partners, signed an agreement with 2 companies that want to start drilling in a matter of months. The Method is known as LPG Fracturing. It uses gelled liquid petroleum gas instead of chemically infused water and sand.

Ithaca (WENY) - An environmental watchdog firm out of Ithaca claims DEC documents prove the department knew about hundreds of gas, oil and brine spills in New York causing harm to neighbors. Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting wants the DEC to scrap its most recent environmental study, claiming the evidence shows, the state can't effectively regulate. Hang's firm got the documents through the freedom of information act. The information shows over 200 natural gas and oil problems in towns across New York including five here in the Southern Tier. Hang is asking Governor Cumo to retract the environmental impact study, in which the DEC claims drilling can be done safely.

Southern Tier (WENY) - The latest environmental impact statement takes into account both environmental and economic impact. That’s a tough line to walk. Environmentalists say the protections don't go far enough. While business leaders are saying: enough already, lets get this thing moving.

ITHACA-- The future of Marcellus Shale hydraulic fracturing in New York faces more push-back from local politicians.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) was in Ithaca Wednesday to sign a letter asking Gov. Paterson to withdraw the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) the state Department of Environmental Conservation released last year.

ELMIRA-- New York's chief environmental officer was fired, after a memo critical of layoffs became public.

Governor Paterson's office confirmed the firing of State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis, who's led the agency since 2007. The governor's office instructed the DEC to cut another 209 workers by the end of the year.

ITHACA -- As the end of the year approaches, and with it the end of the Department of Environmental Conservation's public comment period on regulations governing expanded natural gas drilling in New York State, some in the gas industry say they're open to more regulation -- and they're willing to pay for it.

The debate over horizontal fracturing in the Marcellus Shale has been fierce.

ITHACA -- Thousands of New Yorkers signed a petition asking Gov. David Paterson to scrap natural gas drilling regulations, and start from scratch.

Environmentalists, landowners -- even politicians -- are voicing concerns over the DEC's draft environmental impact statement on horizontal gas drilling.

Ithaca environmentalist Walter Hang found hundreds of spills not properly cleaned up after they were drilled using the traditional vertical method. He says if that could happen, horizontal drilling could also be problematic.