In Monroe County, anti-fracking activists have struggled to get government officials to take fracking-related issues seriously. In particular, they’ve asked the county to pass a law banning its water treatment facilities from taking fracking waste, but their requests have fallen flat. Erie County is a different story. Yesterday, its Legislature passed a law banning fracking on […]
natural gas
Posted inNews & Opinion
Scientists group offers guides to fracking debate
The Union of Concerned Scientists recently released a couple of publications that should be of interest to anyone with questions about the ongoing fracking debate. The organization hasn’t taken a position on fracking, though drilling companies would probably say that the UCS is against it. Instead, it’s focused on helping the public ask critical and […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Hemlock-Canadice’s watershed moment
The City of Rochester sold approximately 7,000 acres of land around Hemlock and Canadice lakes to the state in 2010 to make sure that the waterfronts remain safe from development. And yet the lakes are currently at the center of a controversy about gas and oil drilling. That’s because the state’s proposed plan to manage […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Cornell prof says shale gas is a ‘gangplank to more warming’
Cornell University Professor Anthony Ingraffea has consistently argued that natural gas from high-volume hydraulic fracturing is not as clean as its supporters make it out to be. This week, an editorial by Ingraffea ran in the New York Times and it’s worth a read (if the Times paywall blocks you, just Google “Gangplank to a […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Report criticizes campaign contributions by pro-fracking groups
A coalition that’s advocating for public financing of New York elections wants Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Moreland Commission to look into campaign contributions made by pro-fracking groups and lobbyists. Fair Elections New York issued the call yesterday, basing its arguments on a Common Cause/NY analysis of the contributions, which was also released yesterday. Common Cause is a […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Contami-Nation: Josh Fox returns to fracking fracas
Matthew Schniper is an arts editor at the Colorado Springs Independent. He also frequently writes about film and sustainability topics. Of all things flammable in the wide world, tap water shouldn’t be one of them. At least that’s the consensus — call it crazy — among environmentalists and fracking foes, for whom the phenomena, supposedly […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Obama announces climate actions
President Barack Obama just wrapped up a speech at Georgetown University where he announced federal actions aimed at cutting the country’s carbon emissions. The White House issued a fact sheet and report on the president’s agenda, which is available here. PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVE JURVETSON Some of the measures, all of which are executive actions […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
County Dems renew call for fracking ban
For the second time this week, Democrats in the Monroe County Legislature are calling for a countywide fracking ban. This afternoon, three members of the caucus laid out the framework for their desired ban. They haven’t drafted legislation yet; Minority Leader Carrie Andrews said they’re hoping to work with at least a few Republican legislators […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Wages only part of ‘frackonomics’ picture
The conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy has released a report that says, predictably, that fracking could boost incomes in 28 New York counties. The report’s authors based their conclusions on data from Pennsylvania counties where Marcellus Shale drilling is occurring. They say that had New York allowed its counties to “fully exploit […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Court says communities can ban drilling
Yesterday, a state appeals court upheld two towns’ bans on oil and gas drilling in separate but similar cases. The decisions were cheered by environmental and anti-fracking groups, as well by some elected officials. One case challenged a ban in the Town of Dryden, (decision here) and the other, in the Town of Middlefield (decision […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Ontario cleaning up its power plants
New York’s neighbor to the north is about to shut down all of its coal-fired power plants. This year, all of the remaining coal plants in the province of Ontario will be shut down except for one small plant that will be kept as a backup for peak demand periods, says an article in Yale […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Judge voids Southern Tier village’s water sales
A judge’s ruling calls for a halt to the Village of Painted Post’s water sales to a Shell subsidiary, SWEPI, LP. The company was using the water to frack wells in Pennsylvania. Under the agreement the village would have received a minimum of $3.2 million over a five-year period. In 2012, Painted Post officials signed […]
