Democrat & Chronicle

ALBANY – With one natural-gas pipeline effectively rejected and another pulled off the table last week, anti-pipeline activists are flexing their political muscle in New York.

ALBANY -- A leading oil-and-gas trade group will let a key deadline pass without challenging New York's ban on large-scale hydraulic fracturing.

New York's newly official ban on large-scale hydraulic fracturing drew a predictable response: Fracking critics love it and supporters hate it.

ALBANY – After more than six years of review, fracking is on the outs in New York.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration said Wednesday it will move to ban large-scale hydraulic fracturing throughout the state, citing concerns over human health risks and questioning the economic benefits of the controversial technique used to release natural gas from underground shale formations.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, shakes hands with Rob Astorino, his Republican
opponent for governor, before Cuomo speaks at the annual meeting of the Business Council
of New York State on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014.






Albany -- A new poll shows Gov. Andrew Cuomo maintaining a wide lead over his Republican rival even as the Democrat's job-approval rating dipped to its lowest point.

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 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.