Marcellus Shale Press Coverage

Binghamton, NY (WBNG Binghamton) As New York waits for word on if and where fracking will occur, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. 22nd district Congressional seat speaks out against it.

Local leaders and environmental groups joined Dan Lamb at a rally in opposition to the potential to allow drilling for shale gas.

Dan Lamb says there needs to be more federal safeguards in place and studies done before fracking comes to counties in the Southern Tier.

BINGHAMTON — Asking voters to consider November’s election “a referendum on reckless drilling,” Democratic congressional candidate Dan Lamb on Tuesday sought to push the debate over hydraulic fracturing to the forefront of his campaign against incumbent Rep. Richard Hanna.

NEW YORK -- Pressure on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo from both sides of his state's hydraulic fracturing fight flared up this week, with local groups and Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan having dialed up the heat with a letter to 1,000 Cuomo campaign contributors urging a ban.

The effor to hurt the Democratic governor where it counts -- in the pocketbook -- comes amid increasing lobbying from business groups in New York looking to win permits for the controversial drilling practice. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is now targeting the state in the run-up to this fall's elections and has plans for a number of ad buys in support of development.

Walter Hang, who owns a consulting business that tracks toxic sites for property investors and other clients, said he believes Cuomo "listens a great deal to his biggest campaign contributors, many of whom are intensely involved in governmental affairs."

"If he hears from these contributors," Hang said, "it may be a more powerful message than when he hears from ordinary citizens."