Marcellus Shale Press Coverage

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Multiple Broome County municipalities are calling for impact assessments before fracking hits their communities.

Wednesday, Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan and residents came together to address what they call questionable and possibly dangerous methods used during the fracking process.

Some anti-fracking environmental leaders are reaching out to Governor Andrew Cuomo's top campaign contributors to say unless drilling is safe everywhere, it is not safe anywhere.

Discussion of the possibility of sporadic drilling in the Southern Tier started on June 13, when the New York Times reported that the Cuomo Administration is pursuing a plan to allow drilling in communities that want it.

In an effort to take action before this possible proposal takes hold, local anti-fracking leaders have sent letters to Governor Cuomo's 1,000 biggest campaign contributors.

In an effort to get the ear of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, opponents of hydraulic fracturing in the Southern Tier have penned a letter to 1,000 of his closest friends.

Binghamton Mayor Matthew T. Ryan and others who have concerns about the natural gas extraction technique gathered in front of Binghamton City Hall on Wednesday to discuss a letter they sent to the 1,000 largest contributors to Cuomo’s campaign fund.

Another set of fracking opponents is trying to stop the controversial drilling technique by another strategy, reaching out to Governor Cuomo's supporters.

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."

NORWICH - An advisory committee on natural gas has for the second time refused to push forward a landowner group's request that Chenango County endorse the New York State Department of Conservation's ability to safely harvest natural gas.

The Central New York Landowners Coalition, which is comprised of large swaths of leased land in Chenango County, some of it already producing natural gas, offered up a resolution for the committee's adoption at the end of last month and again on Tuesday.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Landowners along New York's southern border who support natural gas drilling are cheered by reports that the Cuomo administration is considering allowing hydraulic fracturing on a limited basis in towns that want it, though opponents call the idea "shameful."

Reaction to a story in this morning’s NY Times that the Cuomo Administration wants to move ahead with hydrofracking in selected Southern Tier and central NY counties and only where the local communities wants gas development, was harsh and swift among several Assembly Democrats who are pretty much opposed to the idea of drilling.

There is a new push to try to convince Governor Andrew Cuomo not to lift the moratorium on hydrofracking.