ALBANY -- A bill that would put a one-year moratorium on new natural gas drilling permits in New York received the backing Monday of key lawmakers in the Senate and Assembly.
The bill would suspend until June 1, 2011, hydraulic fracturing for the extraction of natural gas, a controversial process that uses water and chemicals to break up rock formations and make the gas more accessible.
The chairmen of the Environmental Conservation committees are sponsoring the bill: Sen. Antoine Thompson, D-Buffalo, and Assemblyman Robert Sweeney, D-Babylon, Suffolk County.
The measure, which will mainly impact the Southern Tier, passed the Senate Environmental Conservation committee on Monday, but it was unclear if or when it would be brought to a vote of the full Legislature.
"I think it makes a great deal of sense to just say we're going to step back for a year and take the time that is necessary to ensure that, whatever happens, happens in a way that is healthy and safe for all New Yorkers," Sweeney said.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation is expected to return its final environmental impact statement later this year on the issue, and drilling permits have been kept on hold by the state until the report is complete.
But Thompson said the state will need more time to draft regulations and other laws that will be needed to ensure any drilling is done safely.
"If it's going to be done, it has to be done in a responsible way," Thompson said.
The bill is the latest legislation to deal with drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation, which stretches across the Southern Tier and into Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
Earlier this month, the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee passed a measure that would enact a moratorium for 120 days after a federal environmental-impact study on the practice is finalized. But the report was started in March and could take years to complete.
Sweeney said the latest bill was what the Senate appeared to be agreeable to.
Katharine Nadeau, program director for Environmental Advocates of New York, said a moratorium can be helpful, but it needs to be coupled with efforts to enact new regulations to protect the environment and property owners.
"Just to have a moratorium without updating any of our regulations or any of our laws doesn't necessarily get us in the direction of getting a better system in New York state if this drilling is going to go forward," Nadeau said.
The Independent Oil & Gas Industry said it opposes the bill, saying the Marcellus Shale is perhaps the largest natural gas reserve in the county and could help the nation toward energy independence while also boosting the economy.
"What New York needs now is leadership toward a new energy economy for our state, rather than another bill rife with inaccuracies and false assumption," said Brad Gill, the group's executive director.
