NY State announced last Friday new gas drilling regulations proposed for hydrofracking drilling, will now require environmental reviews for each new well for the New York City and Syracuse reservoir systems; the rest of the state will continue to adhere to a different set of rules.Hydrofracking sites in the Upper Green River Valley of Wyoming

Not all sides were pleased.

NRDC attorney Kate Sinding said in an interview, "We don't need any more reviews to tell us what we already know," she said, adding that while the DEC recognizes the problem there remains concern. "It tells us the watersheds for more than 9 million New Yorkers are still vulnerable to drilling with toxic chemicals."

From a different perspective, Assembly Energy Chair, Kevin Cahill has criticized the case-by-case review of any proposal to mine natural gas from Marcellus shale in the New York City watershed and has asked the DEC to come up with one unified plan for environmentally safe natural gas drilling.

Although many Central New York lawmakers seem to be still undecided on their positions on hydro-fracking, Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis last week, on Earth Day, that hydro-fracking will likely begin in the spring and summer of 2011 on the Marcellus Shale formation.

Hydrofracking is a relatively new process of developing a well. Water is injected at high pressures in order to access or expand cracks and crevices in bedrock, enabling engineers to access natural gas sources deep in the earth. Environmentalists across the state as well as several institutions across the nation have already taken a strong stance against hydro-fracking but official word from the DEC is due out in the summer.


The crux of the debate lays in the safety of water sources such as reservoirs and watersheds in the state of New York.  Hydro-fracking proponents, gas companies and lobbying groups such as the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York are pushing the new method as safe. However, suspicions are growing from early reports from states including Pennsylvania, Texas, Wyoming and Colorado where water safety has been compromised after drilling began.

Editor's note: Yangtsel Sherap contributed to this story.