Fracking ban

A state senator from the Hudson Valley has introduced a bill to codify New York’s fracking ban. The legislation would also ban a form of waterless fracking. A number of environmental advocates are supporting the bill.

More than 150 years after the end of the Civil War, secession was on the minds of protesters in New York this weekend. Hundreds turned out for a rally in Bainbridge in Chenango County. Many live within miles of the Pennsylvania border and believe secession could have a large economic impact on their communities.

  There’s word that the commissioner of the state’s environmental agency is leaving, just two days after Joe Martens issued the final environmental impact statement banning hydrofracking in New York. The final report on fracking is a signal for others to move on as well. Anti-fracking groups say they are using New York’s stance to help convince other states, and even countries to ban the gas drilling process.

Environmentalists are welcoming the official end to the years-long fracking debate in New York. 

  New York made national headlines by banning hydraulic fracturing.

In today’s Congressional Corner, Union College political science professor Brad Hays tells WAMC’s Alan Chartock that Governor Cuomo’s ban could be a trendsetter.

When New York became the second state in the nation (after Vermont)  to ban the controversial gas drilling method hydraulic fracturing, some were surprised that Governor Andrew Cuomo finally took a stance on the issue.

The fracking announcement December 17th came after six years of a de facto moratorium with a long-awaited health impact study. New York State acting Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker, who said “I cannot support high volume hydraulic fracturing in the great state of New York.”

A Hudson Valley congressman is weighing in with his view of Wednesday’s decision from top state administration officials to ban fracking in New York.

Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration is banning hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in New York, citing concerns about health and environmental risks. Democratic Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney says his views on the issue have not changed.

It will probably go down as the biggest decision of the year in New York State – a ban on fracking. Wednesday’s news came the same day casino license recommendations were announced. Supporters of a fracking ban are celebrating the long-awaited decision while opponents say they are disappointed and the Southern Tier, where fracking would have taken place, is doomed.

As New York awaits a decision from the state’s highest court on whether communities have the right to use local zoning laws to ban the use of land for oil and gas activities, several local governments in many states are regulating hydraulic fracturing.  Experts from affected states recently briefed reporters on the growing trend of community control over fracking.