Free Republic

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) -- When word spread about the potential natural gas riches of the Marcellus Shale, Kimberly More saw it as the hope for saving her horse farm. She figured that leasing her 170 acres to a drilling company could bring an upfront bonus of nearly half a million dollars, plus a monthly royalty when gas starts to flow, enough to pay for a new house, a new barn and her own riding business. "I have three young girls. My husband left," More said. "I don't want to be on social services. I want to take care of my...

Will hydraulic fracturing ever come to New York? And if it does, will it be sufficiently commonplace to actually boost Upstate’s sadly dilapidated economy? These are fair questions — given that the Cuomo administration has slowed the approval process for the controversial natural-gas-extraction method to a crawl. And now comes word, via a careful leak to The New York Times, that Team Cuomo is pushing a plan that would severely limit both the number of drilling permits and their location to just a few counties. And even that assumes that the process itself is approved by the Department of Environmental...