There's no shortage of opposition to Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling among the residents of New York City, Long Island and the northern suburbs.

Assembly Member Barbara Lifton is among the few Southern Tier legislators who support a moratorium.But it's a different story in the Southern Tier, where five out of six members of the Assembly in the Binghamton area do not support a one-year moratorium on hydrofracking. 

The State Senate approved the moratorium last month, and now all eyes are on the lower house. The Ithaca Journal reports that there appear to be enough votes in the Assembly to approve the moratorium but there is significant opposition among officials representing the potential drilling areas. 

Among the opponents is Assembly Member Donna Lupardo, who said the Department of Environmental Conservation's review would go past the moratorium's May 15, 2011 deadline, making it "arbitrary." 

Ithaca Assembly Member Barbara Lifton bucks the trend; she supports a more extensive moratorium that would halt all hydrofracking until the Environmental Protection Agency has completed its review of the practice.