The state budget may still be out of whack, but the NY did manage to pass a moratorium on using high volume hydraulic fracturing in yesterday’s session. And fracking wasn’t even on the Governor’s “to do” list for the special session.
Still, the Assembly wanted to vote on the bill, so they gaveled in for a regular session, and began debating the fracking moratorium close to 9 pm last night. Before the clock struck midnight, the’d approved a temporary moratorium on fracking with a 93 to 43 vote.
The moratorium halts fracking until May 15 to allow the state time to obtain a more complete picture of environmental impacts from the technology. This is the same bill that the NY Senate approved in August.
Now the bill is on Governor Paterson’s desk awaiting his signature. Will he sign it? Susan Arbetter will ask him this morning on The Capitol Pressroom which airs at 11 am.
Although the governor’s office has not officially commented on whether the Governor will sign the bill, Paterson did comment in a radio interview last week that he does not think the state will move forward with drilling in shales. He noted that opponents of hydro-fracking had raised enough concerns to “thwart going forward with it at this time.”
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