Cuomo: I Won’t Decide on Fracking Before the Election

NEW YORK—Gov. Andrew Cuomo reiterated Thursday that he would not make a decision on fracking before the election, again rebuking activists who have repeatedly entreated the governor to ban fracking.

Anti-fracking activists protest across the street from the Plaza Hotel, where Cuomo was hosting a campaign event and luncheon in Midtown Manhattan, N.Y., on Monday, September 18, 2014. Jonathan Zhou/Epoch Times

NEW YORK—Gov. Andrew Cuomo reiterated Thursday that he would not make a decision on fracking before the election, again rebuking activists who have repeatedly entreated the governor to ban fracking. 

“No, there won’t be,” Cuomo told reporters at a press event at the Plaza Hotel, on whether he would make a decision about extending the state’s moratorium on hydraulic fracturing before Nov. 7. 

New York instituted a nonstatutory ban on the controversial oil and natural gas extraction method in 2008, in order to study its effects on the environment. New York’s environmental commissioner could permit fracking as early as April 2015, according to a Bloomberg report. 

Across the street from the hotel, scores of fracking activists were protesting Cuomo’s indecision, holding posters and chanting slogans against fracking. 

Anti-fracking activists protest across the street from the Plaza Hotel, where Cuomo was hosting a campaign event and luncheon in Midtown Manhattan, N.Y., on Monday, September 18, 2014. Jonathan Zhou/Epoch Times