By The Associated Press on March 11, 2013 at 3:30 PM, updated March 11, 2013 at 3:32 PM in Syracuse.com

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York's health commissioner said Monday he won't wait for completion of any of the pending gas drilling studies, which could take years, and instead plans a recommendation to the governor "in weeks" on whether the state should approve hydraulic fracturing.

Health Commissioner Nirav Shah also said he met with researchers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania within the past two weeks.

A person close to Gov. Andrew Cuomo had told The Associated Press in February that the governor discussed the Geisinger health study as key research for his decision and helped cool momentum toward making a decision to allow a limited number of test wells that would be closely monitored.

Environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who had spoken to Cuomo about the study, said in an interview that he believes the Geisinger review is pivotal.

"Nobody ever said that we were waiting for the studies to be finished," Cuomo said Monday. "The Department of Health was going to be looking at those studies and see if there was anything constructive in those studies."

Instead, Cuomo said they would discuss early findings with some researchers. Preliminary results of the Geisinger study are expected within a year.

Cuomo will make a decision on whether to allow the potentially lucrative drilling in the...

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Posted by John Campbell in Politics on the Hudson 3/1/13

The state released area unemployment rates today, and the numbers aren’t pretty.

No area of the state had a decline in unemployment between January 2012 and January 2013. It’s the second year in a row where not one area of the state had its unemployment rate drop.

State officials have argued that the unemployment is not a fair gauge of the state’s economy because as the economy improves, more people are looking for work, and thus the unemployment rate increases. In a report last week, the state Labor Department said the state created 29,600 jobs in January, a record 17 consecutive months of private-sector job growth.

The unemployment rate increases for some regions of the state were stark. The unemployment rate in the Elmira area increased from 8.8 percent in January 2012 to 10.5 percent last month.

The area had an economic boom after hydraulic fracturing occurred across the border in Pennsylvania, but it has been stung by a slow down in drilling, no decision by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on whether to proceed in New York with fracking and the closure of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. last December, which axed 570 jobs.

Between December and January, New York unemployment rate rose from 8.2 percent to 8.4 percent.The national average was 7.9 percent.

In January, 35 counties had unemployment rates above 10 percent, compared to 25 that did so in January 2012, the labor statistics show. The highest...

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By Mark Green in The Energy Collective 3/10/12

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By FREDRIC U. DICKER in NY Post 3/11/2012

Senior state lawmakers and top legislative staff are claiming Gov. Cuomo secretly encouraged last week’s efforts to pass a law blocking hydrofracking upstate.

Several officials, along with leaders of landowner organizations in the gas-rich areas of the poverty-riddled Southern Tier and even some gas-industry executives, told The Post they believe Cuomo wants the ban as a “cover’’ to delay his decision on the controversial natural-gas drilling through his re-election campaign next year.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the Senate claimed Cuomo helped members of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) draft a surprise proposal to delay fracking for at least two more years.

Assembly Democrats led by Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) passed a similar measure a day earlier — but that was expected since they had approved the proposal before.

“The widespread view is that the governor has reached the point where he wants to be rid of having to make a decision through his re-election campaign next year,” a senior legislative official said.

Aides to Cuomo strongly denied that the governor encouraged the efforts to ban fracking, noting he has said since taking office in 2011 that “science and not politics” would guide his decision.

“If the governor says no to fracking because of legislative...

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by Steve Isreal in Recordonline.com

A few dozen landowners and businesses in Sullivan County with about 7,900 acres leased for gas drilling are waiting in regulatory limbo.

They've been waiting as long as six years for the state to decide whether to allow the natural gas extraction method of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. It's a wait that could extend at least another two years, if the state Senate joins the Assembly, which on Wednesday voted for a two year moratorium on fracking.

And since many of those leases — which were signed as early as 2007 — are for drilling on land in towns that have since banned fracking, the leaseholders are also waiting for the courts to decide whether the bans will ultimately stand. Court decisions have already upheld those bans in two upstate towns.

No wonder some of those leaseholders are sick of waiting. They say fracking is safe for the water and air, while those against it say those natural resources will be polluted.

"It's such a scam that's going on," says Bill Steuber, of the western Sullivan County Town of Fremont. Chesapeake Appalachia has leased about 260 acres from Steuber and his family. "We're being held hostage by the environmentalists."

All of which is why a Binghamton lawyer for many landowners says he will soon file a lawsuit against the state. The...

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Posted at: 03/09/2013 11:39 AM  By MARY ESCH of AP on WNYT.com

AP) ALBANY, N.Y. - A health study cited by leading environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as pivotal in helping persuade Gov. Andrew Cuomo to hold off on plans for limited gas drilling is likely years away from conclusions about whether the technology involved is safe, according to the project’s leaders.

With New York entering the fifth year of review of the process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, growing calls to wait for the Geisinger Health System study to be finished could push a final decision back several more years, frustrating landowners and the industry that had hoped to begin tapping the gas reserve that lies below parts of the state.

Preliminary results could be released within a year.

"We don’t really believe that there is a fast answer here, if you’re looking at the issue of health impacts," Andy Deubler, an executive vice president at Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, said in an interview. "You’ve got to have all the data before you can come to a conclusion."

The study, still in early planning stages with only a fraction of its necessary funding, is but one piece of a larger body of independent research just getting under way and seeking funding.

Geisinger, based in Danville, Pa., serves 2.6 million patients and operates hospitals, clinics and an insurance program in 44 Pennsylvania counties, where fracking is being done. That gives it vast troves of health care data concerning everything from cancer to car accidents to asthma attacks. The company says research has been "fundamental" to its mission...

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Written by  Tammy Webber of  Associated Press 3/7/13

A look at Illinois bill to regulate fracking
By The Associated Press,
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois House Bill 2615 would regulate a controversial method of oil and gas drilling known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking. The legislation is unusual because it was negotiated with the help of industry and environmental groups. Here are some of the provisions:
• All fracking wastewater must be stored in closed tanks.
• Fracking chemicals must be disclosed publicly, with limits on information that may be deemed a trade secret.
• Citizens may request a public hearing on proposed permits and may appeal permits that have been granted.
• The state many deny permits during droughts.
• Energy companies must test groundwater before and after fracking to identify potential contamination.
• Drillers are presumed liable for contamination that appears near its operations after fracking begins.
• Injection of diesel fuel is banned, and nearby abandoned wells must be plugged.
• Venting and flaring of natural gas is restricted.
• A detailed application must be posted on a state website.
• Fracking wells may not be drilled within 1,500

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On Capitol Tonight,  YYN website

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tops the 2016 presidential field, while Gov. Andrew Cuomo would lose to both New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Rep. Paul Ryan were he the GOP nominee according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.

The poll found that Cuomo would struggle in a head-to-head matchup against rising Republican stars like Ryan and Christie, while he would tie Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, with each garnering 37 percent.

The Q-poll found that Ryan, the 2012 vice presidential nominee, would top Cuomo 42 percent to 37 percent. Christie, who has worked well with Cuomo as the governor of a neighboring state, has a large head-to-head lead over Cuomo, 45 percent to 28 percent.

Clinton, a former U.S. senator from New York, tops every Republican in a head-on race.

“Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would start a 2016 presidential campaign with enormous advantages,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “She obviously is by far the best known and her more than 20 years in the public spotlight allows her to create a very favorable impression on the American people. But it is worth noting that she had very good poll numbers in 2006 looking toward the 2008 election, before she faced a relative unknown in Barack Obama.”

Clinton’s possible candidacy is seen as freezing the Democratic field with less than three years to go before the primary season begins.

Cuomo so far has denied he has any interest in running for president in 2016, saying that he’s focused on his job here in New York. Cuomo is up for re-election in 2014.

By Casey Larkin  In The Lamron, Opinion  March 7 2013

Hydraulic fracturing has proven to be a hot button issue in New York state as Gov. Andrew Cuomo deliberates over whether to implement test wells or not. The practice involves injecting water and chemicals thousands of feet underground to crack open shale beds, releasing large amounts of natural gas.

The debate is centered on weighing jobs created by hydrofracking operations against potentially negative environmental consequences. The real issue, however, is Cuomo’s inability to make a decision either way, instead choosing to delay what could prove to be an administration-defining arbitration.

Cuomo’s stance on fracking is simple. Paraphrasing the governor, American radio host and environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, “If it’s causing health problems, I really don’t want it in New York state. And if it’s not causing health problems, we should figure out a way we can do it.”

Cuomo has continued to maintain that he will choose “science, not politics” as the main influencing factor on the issue. Last month, however, the governor came exceptionally close to approving 40 test wells to be heavily regulated and monitored, until he...

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