Sen. Antoine Thompson, Chairman of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee has introduced legislation that would establish a one year moratorium and a suspension of the issuance of permits for horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale. S. 8129 appears on the Senate Encon Committee calendar for vote today. While it may not be as damaging as the Assembly Englebright bill, A. 10490, which would establish a 120 day moratorium on drilling following the completion of the EPA study that is expected to take at least two years to complete and has yet to be started, the Thompson bill will likely result in energy companies reevaluating their positions in NYS and taking their investment dollars to Pennsylvania or other states that will allow safe, highly regulated drilling.

Energy development is not without risk but it is necessary to keep our economy running. The moratorium supporters seem to forget that energy is a component in everything we do and harvesting it is an industrial operation. Strong regulations contained in the sGEIS minimize the risk. Over 1 million wells have been hydrofracked in the U.S. with no resulting contamination. We need domestic energy cleanly produced in New York State under the strictest regulations in the country and likely the world. Importing our energy not only supports our enemies, it supports environmentally dangerous practices of extraction in less regulated countries.

Senator Thompson and members of the Encon Committee need to understand that the DEC is best equipped to regulate drilling in the Marcellus Shale. The DEC has been working on the sGEIS for two years and it will be the most comprehensive and stringent set of regulations of any state in the US. New Yorkers need the jobs and enormous economic uplift that development of the Marcellus Shale will provide. A continued moratorium to further review drilling is a bad idea. All New Yorkers lose if this is allowed to happen.