Albany, NY – The New York State Assembly passed legislation on Wednesday that extends the moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the state until May 2015 and requires further studies on the environmental impact of the practice known as fracking.
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A moratorium on fracking has been in place in the Empire State since 2008 because of concerns that the practice, which involves pumping chemical-laced water and sand deep below the surface to extract natural gas from shale, can contaminate water supplies.
The current legislation applies to the Utica and Marcellus shale gas deposits, some of the most significant in the country. It requires a full review process, including a new study to look at the potential public health impact of fracking.
“We will not sit idly by and endanger the health and safety of our communities by rushing necessary health and safety reviews,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said in a statement before the vote.
The New York State Assembly, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a ratio of about 2 to 1, passed the legislation by an unofficial count of 95 to 40.
The legislation passed by the Assembly must still be approved by the state Senate, where its passage might be complicated by a power-sharing arrangement between Republicans and Democrats. But a Democratic majority in the Senate may be enough to send it to Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is also a Democrat, for final approval.
Now I’m waiting for everyone to scream that democrats are bad for business.
I’m not an anti fracking advocate, but we have to make sure that this is done properly. A lot of land owners would jump on making an easy dollar, and not consider the potential contamination of the underground water wells (Which are more valuable then gas).
…and a few more years are lost in which the desperately poor towns upstate could benefit from the new industry. I drove through an area near Oneonta last summer. The country road passed through a couple of towns that looked like a page torn from the Great Depression. The upstate are is dying economically and the folks in Albany just don’t care. As far as the “studies” go most of the necessary information could be gleaned by examining the areas in Pennsylvania where fracking is already done in high concentration. That area is quite similar to NY geologically so the results should be quite applicable as-is; assuming Andrew Cuomo and his acolytes really were interested.
So we will continue to be DEPENDENT upon the Iranians because of “raging grannies”.
What means fracking
More money and jobs for Texas. Thanks, we appreciate your stupidity.
There is so much money to be made that it could pay for ten Sandys in a few years.
Well it’s a good thing I’m from Texas. Living in golus in a liberal mid-Atlantic state now, but as of this week I’ve started trying to move back to the ol’ range. Plus ‘fracking’ is a fun word to say. Hey, TexasJew, are you from Houston? At which shul do you daven?
The facts are that this is a very safe way to remove from the earth, what HKB’H has given us. We are the natural gas kings of the world and we probably have MORE oil in our property than even Saudi Arabia so the fact that we can’t go get it is utterly ludicrous. People have to realize its the democrat party has been hijacked by the uber left who are only interested in punishing each & every one of us.
New Yorkers are fortunate: they live in the state that doesn’t need any more well paying jobs, apparently they have more than people in need of them, neither do they need to grow their economy because it’s already larger that they need to pay for their public services, with their famously low tax rate. Carry on!