Cuomo to end moratorium on hydrofracking

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will end a moratorium on horizontal hydrofracking -- a controversial technique to extract natural gas from deep below ground -- while seeking to ban it in the New York City watershed, the administration announced Thursday.

The Cuomo administration said the Department of Environmental Conservation would issue detailed recommendations in a report. If adopted, the recommendations would establish a new regulatory framework allowing about 85 percent of the natural gas in the upstate Marcellus Shale sedimentary rock formation to be extracted, the DEC said in a release.

The drilling method pushes water and chemicals into bedrock deep underground to release natural gas through fractures. Opponents cite potential risks to the environment and water supply while the industry stresses the value of cheap, clean natural gas. Thursday, France became the first country to ban the method.

It will take months to complete the recommendations before any drilling proposals could be evaluated.

Former Gov. David A. Paterson issued the moratorium in December. The DEC will present an environmental study to Cuomo Friday and the public next week. The public will have 60 days to comment on it beginning in August.

Cuomo declined to comment until he receives the report, spokesman Josh Vlasto said.

The potential for drilling in the New York City watershed had raised concerns the city would need to build plants to filter its water supply. The recommendations include a ban on surface drilling on state-owned land including forests, drilling notification requirements and regulations on wastewater and chemicals.

Erica Ringwalk, a spokeswoman for Environmental Advocates of New York, an environmental lobbying group, said, "We are concerned about the lack of any meaningful mention of studying the cumulative impacts of fracking and await detail about what will happen to the millions of gallons of wastewater that fracking will generate."

Brad Gill, executive director of Independent Oil an Gas Association of New York, said, "Allowing natural gas development to expand in New York will bolster the state's economy, provide thousands of new jobs in the near term and move our nation to greater energy independence."