Thanks to this tweet from Mark Ruffalo:
Moratorium! Bravo NYS! Bravo DOH! Bravo @NYGovCuomo ! Bravo NYS Antifracking movement. You worked hard and relied on science. #fracking
http://www.twitter.com/...
Corroborated by a short post in Newsday:
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced his administration will block drilling for natural gas using a technique called horizontal hydraulic fracturing, which environmentalists have warned is a threat to public health, but upstate residents saw as a much-needed boost to the economy.
Administration officials made the announcement Wednesday at a cabinet meeting after a five-year moratorium...
http://www.newsday.com/...
I realize there a myriad ways in which Governor Cuomo is awful, but credit where credit is due. Yippee!!
Update 1: (h/t PinHole)
From The New York Times:
ALBANY — The Cuomo administration announced Wednesday that it would ban hydraulic fracturing in New York State, ending years of uncertainty by concluding that the controversial method of extracting gas from deep underground could contaminate the state’s air and water and pose inestimable public-health risks.
“I cannot support high volume hydraulic fracturing in the great state of New York,” said Howard Zucker, the acting commissioner of health.
That conclusion was delivered publicly during a year-end cabinet meeting called by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in Albany. It came amid increased calls by environmentalists to ban fracking, which uses water and chemicals to release natural gas trapped in deeply buried shale deposits.
http://www.nytimes.com/...