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Albany, NY -- Tompkins County Legislature Chair Martha Robertson was one of the speakers at a news conference yesterday outside Senate Chambers in Albany, communicating the Legislature’s support of a proposed moratorium on new natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale.

The event urged a Senate vote on the gas drilling moratorium, legislation sponsored by Senator Antoine Thompson   Featured speakers included musician Pete Seeger and actor Mark Ruffalo, both Hudson County residents.

In her remarks, Robertson called the issue of gas drilling “the single most important issue that people care about” in this region and across much of New York.  She said the 11-month moratorium, which the County Legislature supported by a near-unanimous vote, will allow the State Legislature to have a say on the gas drilling issue, considering the many bills lawmakers have drafted this year.  The delay, she said, will also permit studies currently in process on the effects of shale gas drilling—one of those conducted by Cornell planner and economist Susan Christopherson, which will assess cumulative effects of widespread shale gas development, on areas including agriculture, tourism, schools, public health, and transportation systems.

Robertson noted that a recent study conducted by the Cornell Survey Research Institute shows gas drilling is not a partisan issue, finding that in every demographic group more people believe that the risk of water contamination outweighs potential revenues from drilling.

Yesterday’s event was sponsored by the group Frack Action, Natural Resources Defense Council, the Hudson Valley Sloop Clearwater (Seeger’s environmental organization), the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, and Zimet Group Inc.

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