This action alert originally from Catskill Mountainkeeper

August 4,, 2010

Action Alert: Stunning 11th Hour Victory- NYS Drilling Moratorium Passes Senate

The fight to prevent unsafe gas drilling in New York State received a huge boost last night when at 12:17 AM the New York State Senate passed a bill that would impose a moratorium on granting permits for hydrofracking until May 15, 2011.   

The bill, sponsored by Senator Antoine Thompson (D-Buffalo), was passed by a margin of 48-9.  The vote had strong bipartisan support and included 15 Republicans.  

The next step is for this bill to be voted on by the Assembly when they return from their summer break after September 15th.

Many had considered the bill "dead on arrival", but legislators were positively affected by the unrelenting efforts of Catskill Mountainkeeper and a broad coalition of our environmental and grass roots partners. According to Wes Gillingham who managed Mountainkeeper's field efforts to generate public support for the bill, and was on the Senate Floor this morning pushing up to the last minute "this important step is a tremendous display of what can happen when citizens stand up and take action."  

It is very important to note that the passage of this bill by the State Senate does not make this a done deal.  We now must make sure the bill is passed by the Assembly and be signed by the Governor as quickly as possible.  

Here's how you can help!  

Email and call Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and your own Assembly Members (contact your member here) now to tell them to bring the bill (A.10490A in that house) to a vote as soon as possible.

Call Governor Paterson and tell him to heed the call of New Yorkers across the state who are calling for the state to slow new gas drilling down and to make sure it can be done safely before our communities, our drinking water, our air quality and our landscapes are sacrificed.

On a side note, Cabot Oil & Gas, a company who is heavily involved in drilling in Pennsylvania has announced that they will not be drilling in the Delaware River Basin because they are not willing to wait until the study on the impact of the Delaware Watershed is finished.  

This has been a long, hard and expensive fight. We weren't given a chance to win two years ago when we picked up the gauntlet on behalf of the citizens of the Catskill region and New York State. Today an important victory is within sight if we can continue to build public pressure. Please help us continue this positive momentum by donating to Catskill Mountainkeeper today.