New York Votes to Postpone Massive Natural Gas Drilling Operations

New York’s Senate overwhelmingly approved a measure today at 12:17 a.m. that would postpone gas drilling in its share of the Marcellus Shale, a methane-rich rock formation that also extends under parts of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania (for more on the topic, check out AlterNet’s coverage here). Drilling has been halted until May 15, 2011.

The 48-9 decision is a result of increased attention on hydraulic fracturing, a controversial gas extraction process that involves pulverizing underground rock formations with pressurized water, sand and chemicals. Fracking, as it’s also called, has been linked to a potpourri of environmental problems across the United States — from air pollution to methane leakage to cattle deaths.

For the past year and a half or so, New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has been tweaking its drilling regulations (known formally as its Generic Environmental Impact Statement). Since being introduced, these rules have met vociferous criticism — from scientists, concerned citizens, New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection and even the federal EPA.

Environmental groups are celebrating the vote. “This important step is a tremendous display of what can happen when citizens stand up and take action,” said Wes Gillingham, program director of Catskill Mountainkeeper.

Since New York began mulling drilling legislation, groups like Catskill Mountainkeeper have pointed to incidents in Pennsylvania — including diesel spills, methane contamination and drinking water contamination — as evidence that the natural gas industry is not taking precautions necessary to protect drinking water.

The industry was exempted from parts of nine environmental regulations, including the Clean Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act and CERCLA (Superfund) in 2005’s Energy Policy Act. It has affirmed that hydraulic fracturing poses no threat to drinking water supplies.