ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s
administration is pursuing a plan to limit the controversial drilling
method known as hydraulic fracturing to portions of several struggling
New York counties along the border with Pennsylvania, and to permit it
only in communities that express support for the technology.
The plan, described by a senior official at the State Department of Environmental Conservation
and others with knowledge of the administration’s strategy, would limit
drilling to the deepest areas of the Marcellus Shale rock formation, at
least for the next several years, in an effort to reduce the risk of
groundwater contamination.
Even within that southwest New York region — primarily Broome,
Chemung, Chenango, Steuben and Tioga Counties — drilling would be
permitted only in towns that agree to it, and would be banned in
Catskill Park, aquifers and nationally designated historic districts.
