Anti-frackers still hoping for moratorium
by Casey Seiler
With just eight session days left, anti-hydrofracking groups say the time has come for New York to lead — specifically, the volume of New York currently occupied by the corporeal forms of Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeff Klein and Republican Dean Skelos.
In a press conference Wednesday, representatives of groups including Environmental Advocates, the Sierra Club and Riverkeeper pressed for votes on two bills backed by Senate Democrat Tony Avella: a two-year moratorium on the controversial drilling technique and another that would categorize the waste products of oil and natural gas exploration to be treated as hazardous.
The IDC supports a moratorium introduced by Sen. David Carlucci, but that bill doesn’t seem likely to make it to the floor due to the sentiments of the GOP, which is urging the DEC to wrap up its five-years-and-counting regulatory construction work on fracking.
“Sens. Klein and Skelos are keeping colleagues from casting a simple vote, an up-or-down vote on two very important bills,” said Katherine Nadeau of Environmental Advocates. ” … Leadership is not about passing one of the governor’s bill, coasting through the rest of session, rushing to the district to pat themselves on the back. They need to stand up and allow their colleagues to take votes on tough issues, and this is one of the most important facing the state today.”
Read more at http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/188462/anti-frackers-still-hoping-for-moratorium/
