Jonathan Frakes
Posted on 05/20/2012 4:10:55 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
ALBANY — While the protesters who packed the stone stairwell of the state Capitol chanted "Ban Fracking Now," the political types in suits down the hall spoke of a different reality.
Those protesters at Tuesday's anti-fracking rally in Albany carried signs saying "Governor Cuomo In 2014 We'll Remember" — a warning to Andrew Cuomo they won't vote for him if he doesn't ban the natural-gas extraction technique of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
The buzz among the men and women outside the state Senate chamber said Cuomo's presumed political aspirations are the exact reason why there's so much pressure on him to OK fracking — once the state Department of Environmental Conservation finishes its environmental review, which includes reading and responding to more than 60,000 comments on its proposed regulations.
Cuomo certainly doesn't want any accidents on his watch, but he also has to prove he's in step with national Democratic Party energy policy. That policy of energy independence, as President Obama often says, includes natural gas.
In certain circles — like the protesters in Albany — more folks have probably seen actor Mark Ruffalo at anti-fracking rallies than in his latest blockbuster movie, "The Avengers," in which he stars as the Hulk.
But even when he's out promoting that film — as he has been for the past few months — Ruffalo, of the Sullivan County Town of Callicoon, never passes up a chance to talk about what he says are the evils of fracking.
Take his recent trip to places like Moscow and Berlin.
He said he spoke about fracking wherever he went — and was amazed how many people know about it.
"When we started this movement, most folks didn't know what it was," he said. After Ruffalo mentioned bans or possible bans in Ireland, France and Holland, he added:
"People, in general, are very weary of it. It is incredibly unpopular and certainly a populist movement has sprung up around it. It is making clear what is already a foregone conclusion for any country with any grace or sanity — it's time to invest in the future of renewable energy and not put our money on the losing proposition of tired fossil fuel."
Yet another fracking poll Another week. Another fracking poll. More divisions that seem to run as deep as the gas-rich Marcellus shale beneath us.
Take the just-released Siena College Research Institute Poll.
Thirty-seven percent of all New Yorkers support allowing fracking to move ahead in upstate New York, said the poll, while 36 percent oppose it — with the rest saying they don't have enough information to decide, or they just don't know.
But upstate, where fracking could potentially occur, the opposition is solid, with 45 percent opposed and 34 percent for it.
The sentiment is just the reverse in the suburbs, where 44 percent support fracking and 30 percent oppose it.
Supporters have a slight edge in New York City, where 35 percent support fracking and 31 percent oppose it.
Trouble with cut and paste?
This is unfortunately another "agenda" which will eventually cost us. The government is figuring out how to skim right now.
Of course there will be fracking in NYS....opportunities are everywhere.
Just ran into a property....There was an old lease...that got replaced with a new lease saying they would "frack" the property...from over here....
Some of these government groups are going to have to be put in their place and it will happen.
Fraking?
The actual title mentions “Fracking”...
When you fake a title on FR, that’s “FRaking”...
OOPS! Sometimes the THR’s website won’t let you copy and paste the titles.
It is fracing- shorthand for hydraulic fracturing. Really.
God, the know nothing party has returned and is proud of its complete ignorance
Probably 99.9% of these protestors don’t even know what fracking is.
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You are 100% correct.
Celebrity jackoffs against fracking should be required to live outdoors with no vehicles or other modern conveniences.
Fracing is very popular in south Texas where the Eagleford Shale is creating lots of millionaire mineral owners. Lots of small towns that have been sleepy for decades all of a sudden have lots of money coming through them.
Ruffalo: a star, a celebrity...and ignorant as a mud fence.
The industry invented fracking in Texas -- 65 years ago, in 1947.
And since that time, there have been no environmental consequences whatsoever. Except for the flood of green dollars entering landowner's bank accounts and the deluge of green dollars entering the state's economy.
Does drinking the environmental kool-aid really cause your brain to leak out your ears...???
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