Tagged: fracking

Hydrofracking remains a controversial topic across the country, and perhaps no more so in New York, where state environmental and health officials are still determining if fracking can be done safely.

Yesterday, during a joint legislative hearing on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed executive budget, Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens was peppered with questions from legislators about the administration’s fracking plans.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) —  A poll shows New York voters nearly evenly divided on  "fracking" the same day the state's top environmental official declared his agency has no "timetable" for finishing shale gas drilling rules.

Elected officials questioned Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens about the environmental review at a legislative budget hearing on Monday. He says he expects to get a report from Health Commissioner Nirav Shah in "a few weeks."

New York state Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, the powerful Democrat who chairs the Health Committee, says he has questions about the state's health impact study as Governor Andrew Cuomo decides on the future of hydrofracking. Gottfried spoke on WAMC's Capitol Connection program.

Anti fracking activists, including Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, attempted to present the state’s environmental agency with over 200,000 comments, on the last day of a public comment period on the gas drilling process.  As Karen DeWitt reports, they also, along with other anti fracking activists, tried to deliver a letter to Governor Cuomo.