Marcellus Shale

Marcellus Shale's Generations Clash Over Land Rights and Ominous Fracking

State Senate Deputy Majority Leader With Fracking Connections is Taking Heat

A Bloomberg story blew the lid on one state senator's ties to the fracking industry yesterday. Turns out state Senator Tom Libous (R-Binghamton), who said in March that he'd "make sure no [fracking moratorium] bill passes the Senate," has deep ties to a real-estate company leasing underground natura ... More >>

DEC Hired Fracking Lobby for $50 Million to Assess...Fracking?

Update: See statement from the DEC, and a letter from E&E explaining its relationship to IOGANY, at the bottom. New York State might just have to scrap the latest draft of its environmental impact study on hydraulic fracturing. The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) and state lawmake ... More >>

Will a New High-Pressure Gas Line Help New Yorkers—Or Blow Them Up?

Pipe Bomb

New Yorkers Still Slightly in Favor of Fracking Even as More Shady "Studies" Emerge

New Yorkers believe that the economic benefits of drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale outweigh the risk of potentially harmful environmental repercussions, according to today's Quinnipiac University Poll. The poll finds that 44 percent of New Yorkers think the economic pros of hydrauli ... More >>

Spectra Pipeline Construction Halted By Activist

Construction on a pipeline that will bring fracked natural gas under the Hudson and into the West Village was halted for two hours Wednesday when George Pingeon, a member of the opposition group Occupy the Pipeline, chained himself to a backhoe on the construction site. Opponents have been fighting ... More >>

Naked Green People Fighting The Spectra Gas Pipeline Construction In The West Village

Activists protesting the construction of a new natural gas pipeline into the heart of Manhattan stepped up their efforts to draw attention to the issue this weekend by getting naked, painting their bodies green, and dancing along the West Side Highway. The NJ-NY Expansion Project, known familiarly ... More >>

Fracking: Boom or Doom

America's hydraulic fracturing gold rush portends the greatest environmental disaster of a generation

Fracking Dangers: Does Hydraulic Fracturing Cause Deadly Lung Disease?

As fracking spreads across the Marcellus shale formation and the rest of America with the White House's support, a government researcher has announced today that sand dust emitted during hydraulic fracturing might be one "of the most dangerous threats to workers." Citing a National Institute for Oc ... More >>

Will Fracking Spread Across America?

The Prez has hardly made it a secret that he supports fracking as part of his push for domestic oil and natural gas development, with the Obama administration announcing last week that it plans on setting environmental standards for hydraulic fracturing. And what happens in D.C. does not stay in D ... More >>

NY Post Goes Fracking Crazy in Pro-Hydraulic Fracturing Editorial

The Post is a bit beside itself this morning, unable to process the position of fracking opponents. It's not simply that the editorial board disagrees with them and published an opinion piece explaining why -- the board can't wrap its head around the fact that dissenting opinion should have weight ... More >>

Are Fracking Chemicals a Secret? (UPDATE)

The health risks of hydraulic fracturing have been key in policymaking debates, with health advocates calling on legislators to assess fracking chemicals before allowing the polemic practice to take place. Friends of fracking, however, have pushed back against full disclosure: in Pennsylvania, for ... More >>

Department of Environmental Protection Clarifies Fracking E-Mail (UPDATE)

Mayor Mike Bloomberg has had his share of public reservations about hydrofracking, urging government honchos to keep drilling far from NYC's water. The City's environmental agency is on board, too. But a strange little newsletter released this afternoon from the Department of Environmental Protect ... More >>

Frack! EPA Voices Concerns About Hydraulic Fracturing

The Environmental Protection Agency says that New York should set limits to the amount of radiation that can be in fracking wastewater before the drilling starts, according to The Associated Press [via The Wall Street Journal]. The EPA announcement comes just as the state's Department of Environme ... More >>

Cuomo Attempts to Lift Ban on Hydraulic Fracturing

​When Governor Cuomo signed the landmark same sex marriage bill into law last week, you probably thought, "There's no way the 'gov is topping this." Guess again! The New York Times reports his administration will announce their attempt to lift what is effectively a statewide ban on hydraulic f ... More >>

Lazio - Levy Battle Over Secret Tapes, Thanks to Voice

​Not that this story ranks anywhere on the new Gawk-O-Meter by which all things Web are now measured, but we still take small satisfaction that a few lines in a Voice story this week prompted live grenades to be tossed back and forth between the two leading contenders for the Republican nomina ... More >>

EPA warns about oil drilling in NYC watershed

​The EPA is warning the state Department of Environmental Conservation that they need to do a lot more homework before they finalize the rules for natural gas drilling in the city's upstate watershed.

Another Creepy Story About the Threat to New Yorkers' Drinking Water

You know the drill: Companies eye the potentially lucrative Marcellus Shale, while New York City worries about the safety of its upstate watershed.A creepy new development related to possible hazards to New York City's drinking water comes courtesy of an upstate woman. Laurie Lygle allowed a natural ... More >>

City challenges state over upstate oil drilling

Despite preliminary guidelines released by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which declined to ban natural gas drilling inside the New York City watershed, Acting New York City DEC Chair Steven Lawitts says that drilling for natural gas upstate could pollute water for 15 million pe ... More >>