Statewide NY

On the ever-present topic of “when will new drilling rules be released in New York,” here’s the latest insight from Tom Wilbur, former reporter for the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin and author of “Under the Surface,” a book on shale gas drilling. He writes on his blog:

Read More “And Again! When Will NY Release New Fracking Regs?”

Depending on which news source you read, yesterday’s anti-fracking protest rally and march in Albany, NY drew “hundreds” of protesters, “more than 1,000” or “about 1,200.” Any way you slice it, there were a lot of loud-mouthed people in Albany yesterday, trying to catch the attention of one person: Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

A few “famous people” were there as well, which is what caught the attention of the media. People like actress Debra Winger (who lives in Sullivan County, NY) and author Bill McKibben (writes about climate change).

Josh Fox of Gasland fame was there too, although he doesn’t even rate a mention in the Albany Times Union story, and just a brief mention in the Gannett story. Guess Josh’s 15 minutes of fame is now about over.

Read More “Albany Protesters Try to Convince Cuomo to Ban Fracking”

The one question MDN editor Jim Willis gets asked most often is, “When will New York release rules to allow fracking?” We’ve addressed this question before and no doubt will again. But this time, we thought we would let someone else address it for a change. Here’s a roundup of who’s said what on the topic of “when NY” as offered by Steve Israel in the Middletown Times Herald-Record:

Read More “One More Time: When Will NY Release New Fracking Regs?”

There’s no nice way of saying this, so I won’t. The closer we get to the release of new rules that will allow the 60-year old technology of hydraulic fracturing to be used in New York, more and more nut jobs will come out of the New York woodwork.

The latest case in point comes from Paul Bray, columnist for the Albany Times Union:

Read More “NY Anti-Driller Cuckoo Birds on Full Display”

Well well. Jon Campbell from the Gannett News Service wrote an article yesterday about New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens. It has a surprising revelation in it.

If you’ve read MDN for any length of time, you no doubt will know we have said we believe Joe Martens to be the fox in the henhouse—that is, the man put in charge of hydraulic fracturing in the state is a committed opponent of it (see this MDN story). Were we wrong?

Read More “Bombshell: NY DEC Head Martens Started Anti-Fracking Group”

We have a lot more insight into what Gov. Cuomo is planning thanks to Tom Wilbur, former environmental reporter for Gannett News and the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin. Tom is a confirmed anti-driller. He won’t tell you that, but we will. We’ve read his writing for years, and it’s evident that he’s opposed to shale gas drilling.

However, he has his sources in Albany, and they’ve come through for him big-time. Tom writes about many of the details Gov. Cuomo and the Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) are revealing to anti-drilling environmental groups ahead of the public release of new drilling rules for New York (called the SGEIS). He chronicles the details on his blog.

Read More “More Details on Gov. Cuomo’s Plan to Start Fracking”

A major announcement is on the way in New York State about fracking and and the now four year-old moratorium on horizontal drilling: The fracking ban is about to end. According to a commentary published in the Albany Times Union last Saturday, top officials from the Cuomo administration are briefing “selected environmental groups” about his plan to allow fracking in New York State—a plan which he’ll release before Labor Day.

Here’s what’s being reported:

Read More “NY to Release New Fracking Regulations by Labor Day”