During Wednesday’s only gubernatorial debate in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said that the long-awaited health review on potential dangers of hydrofracking will be completed by the end of the year.
Cuomo, answering a question on whether fracking, which is on hold in New York, will begin in the next four years if he’s reelected, says an over two-year-old health review will be concluded by the end of the year, though not before Election Day. He says he’s told experts at his Departments of Health and Environmental Conservation to “give me a report.”
“It’s due at the end of this year,” Cuomo said.
There’s been no public information on what’s being reviewed, though the governor has lately referred to the conflicting studies on the safety of fracking. The governor has not wavered from saying publicly, that the science will ultimately decide.
“Whatever the experts say is right , that’s what I will do,” Cuomo said. “Because, frankly, it’s too complicated for a layman.”
The state’s highest court ruled in June that individual localities that don’t want fracking, can vote to ban it, setting up grounds for the state to go ahead with natural gas drilling on a limited basis for communities that want it. But there’s been no decision made yet.
