Most messages on fracking ‘brought to you by our sponsors’  Extra!, FAIR - Fairness & Accuracy in Reportiing, February 2012 By Miranda Spencer When it comes to natural gas extraction via “fracking,” TV journalism has some serious competition: energy industry commercials. Like ads for political candidates that run concurrently with broadcast news coverage of the presidential race, ads promoting natural gas (and other fossil fuels) have long been running in concert with news segments about the topic, most recently touting the prospect of a “boom” made possible by the controversial extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing of the shale sprawling beneath more than 30 U.S. states. During the past three years, Extra! found, there has been exponentially more propaganda for the wonders of natural gas on our screens each night than theoretically objective news segments about natural-gas extraction...

Millions Spent in Albany Fight to Drill for Gas November 25, 2011 - New York Times By Thomas Kaplan ALBANY — Energy companies have been pouring millions of dollars into television advertising, lobbying and campaign contributions as the administration of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo enters the final phase of deciding when and where to allow a controversial form of natural gas extraction that is hotly opposed by environmental groups. Companies that drill for natural gas have spent more than $3.2 million lobbying state government since the beginning of last year, according to a review of public records. The broader natural gas industry has been giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaign accounts of lawmakers and the governor. And national energy companies are heavily advertising in an effort to persuade the public that the extraction method, commonly known as hydrofracking, is safe and economically beneficial. Environmental groups, with far less money at their disposal, are mounting a more homespun campaign as they warn that hydrofracking — a process in which water mixed with sand and chemicals is injected deep into the ground to break up rock formations and release natural gas — could taint the water supply and wreak untold environmental ruin....  

New Report by Agency Lowers Estimates of Natural Gas in U.S. New York Times, January 28, 2012 By IAN URBINA WASHINGTON — Just how much natural gas is trapped underground in the United States? The difficulty and uncertainty in predicting natural gas resources was underscored last week when the Energy Information Administration released a report containing sharply lower estimates. The agency estimated that there are 482 trillion cubic feet of shale gas in the United States, down from the 2011 estimate of 827 trillion cubic feet — a drop of more than 40 percent. The report also said the Marcellus region, a rock formation under parts of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, contained 141 trillion cubic feet of gas. That represents a 66 percent drop from the 410 trillion cubic feet estimate offered in the agency’s last report.

North Country Gazette January 10, 2012 NEW YORK—Catskill Mountainkeeper,Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and Riverkeeper, Inc. have announced that, after extensive evaluation and technical expert review, they have concluded that the state must go back and revisit significant aspects of its revised draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (RDSGEIS) before fracking can move forward.  Click here for the full press release.

Cuomo Weighs Ending State Limits on Casino Gambling

By THOMAS KAPLAN

Published: August 9, 2011

Mr. Cuomo’s comments come as the state’s racetrack casinos, which have electronic slot machines but not the more lucrative table games, prepare to mount a high-profile lobbying effort to push the State Legislature to let them expand into full-fledged casinos.

“We’re going to do this safely,” stated Joe Martens, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) as he announced the July 8 issuing of the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Study (dSGEIS) that outlines the proposed permitting conditions for high-volume hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) of horizontal natural gas wells in the state. Included is a ban on drilling in the New York City watershed, of which most of Ulster County is a part. “[We believe] that the only option to ensure protections for all New Yorkers is to ban hydraulic fracturing in New York State,” responded the environmental advocacy group Catskill Mountainkeeper after studying the new version of the SGEIS. While acknowledging that the current draft is an improvement over the 2009 version, Mountainkeeper’s program director Wes Gillingham said there are still major shortcomings in the proposed regulations, and the fracking issue represents “the biggest environmental crisis New York has ever faced.”

Industry giant to invest $1 billion in natural gas; question remain about true profits

 

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Tribe’s Plan for Catskill Casino, Backed by Paterson, Faces Rejection in Washington

By CHARLES V. BAGLI

Published: February 8, 2011

A proposed Native American casino on 333 acres in the Catskills is likely to be rejected by federal authorities next week, only three months after Gov. David A. Paterson approved the $560 million project in the waning days of his administration. The former governor signed agreements with the Stockbridge-Munsees, a tribe based in Wisconsin with roots in New York, in November to permit a Las Vegas-style casino near Monticello, about 90 miles from New York City, and to settle the tribe’s land claim to 23,000 acres in upstate Madison County. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/nyregion/09casino.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss