Five years later, fracking pause still in effect

by Jon Campbell

Five years and hundreds of thousands of public comments later, what has amounted to a moratorium on shale-gas drilling in New York remains in place.

Tuesday marks the five-year anniversary of the state’s official move to put large-scale hydrofracking permit applications on hold, a period of time opponents of the technique say speaks to their strength and advocates say points to a display of political indecision.

The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, a statewide group of pro-drilling landowners, is hosting a news conference in Binghamton to mark the anniversary. A five-year delay is “ridiculous” and landowners are “fed up,” the group wrote in a memo to local organizations.

Many environmental and anti-fracking groups, citing the potential for damage to water supplies and community character, have called on the state to either ban shale-gas drilling or implement a lengthier moratorium.

Read more at http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2013/07/23/five-years-later-fracking-pause-still-in-effect/