Jon Campbell

ALBANY — Nearly five years after New York first looked at large-scale hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, both sides of the highly contentious shale-gas-drilling debate have finally reached common ground -- not on policy, but on a perceived lack of transparency.

– A group of fracking critics in the Southern Tier are trying to make sure Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph Martens is living up to his promises when it comes to an ongoing health review of fracking.

ALBANY — A top Senate Republican on Thursday said he will fight to keep a potential moratorium on hydraulic fracturing from getting a vote in the state Senate.

Senate Deputy Majority Leader Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, said his goal is to “make sure no (moratorium) bill passes the Senate.”

Libous, a staunch fracking supporter whose district sits within the gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation, said he doesn’t want to see the issue on the Senate floor for a vote.

“I’m going to try to make sure that it doesn’t,” he said Thursday. “I feel that strongly on that issue.”

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday pushed back against the suggestion his administration is playing politics in further delaying a decision on hydraulic fracturing, saying the issue is “too important to make a mistake.”

ALBANY — New York regulators may have to signal a decision on hydraulic fracturing by Feb. 13 if they hope to meet an end-of-the-month deadline for finalizing a set of proposed regulations.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation faces a Feb. 27 deadline to either finalize the planned hydrofracking rules or allow them to expire.

ALBANY — On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo will lay out his vision for the third year of his term during his annual State of the State address.

Several topics are sure to be discussed — gun control, reforming the state’s education system and rebuilding after Superstorm Sandy, among them.

Far less likely to be discussed, however, is one of the highest-profile issues facing the first-term governor in 2013: hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.

ALBANY — More than 1,000 protesters lined a pathway on Wednesday, chanting and wielding signs as lawmakers and lobbyists made their way to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s third State of the State address.

Cuomo’s 80-minute speech, however, had nary a mention of the topic they were protesting: hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.

A Binghamton-area Assemblywoman penned a letter to the state’s top environmental regulator Wednesday, urging him to call a meeting of the state’s High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel — a once-touted committee of interested parties that hasn’t met in nearly a year.

Among the politicians, lobbyists, local officials and press corps flooding the Empire State Plaza concourse for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s second State of the State address, several dozen anti-hydrofracking protesters are wielding signs with a message leaving little doubt who they’re targeting: “In 2014, we’ll remember.”

Another read: “Governor Cuomo, If you can’t protect NY water, you can’t become president.”