Governor Cuomo, don't let fracking happen — this is the clear but simple message the activists in Jon Bowermaster's documentary say in myriad ways. Sally Gao '15 is terrified and moved by Dear Governor Cuomo, whch played Cornell Cinema this past Monday.

Despite strong opposition for hydraulic fracturing in the Ithaca area, anti-fracking candidates were resoundingly defeated Tuesday in races throughout the Southern Tier.

Recent delays may signal that Gov. Andrew Cuomo will not approve hydraulic fracturing because of pressure from environmentalists, only a few months after he was set to sign off on the practice.

After a four-year-long regulatory review, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced on Thursday that it would delay its decision on whether to permit hydraulic fracturing until New York’s health commissioner and “qualified outside experts” assess the practice’s health impacts.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) on Monday said that there are no immediate plans for a decision on whether to allow hydraulic fracturing in New York State, adding that he expects lawsuits from groups on both sides of the issue no matter what the decision.

Opponents of hydraulic fracturing in New York State won two small, but important victories this week. On Wednesday, the Obama administration announced new regulations for controlling emissions from “fracking,” while the state on Thursday delayed its report on the environmental impact of the practice.

In the early 80s, an oil and gas company issued a press release about its plans to “frack” a well. But now, you will never hear anyone from the energy industry or conservative politics using the word “frack.” Instead you read “hydraulic fracturing,” or sometimes “fraccing” if they’re trying to be sneaky, or “clean energy” if they’re blatantly lying.  Even Obama didn’t use the word “frack” in his State of the Union address when he was offering praise for natural gas development.

A New York State Supreme Court upheld the Town of Middlefield’s ban on hydraulic fracturing and gas drilling on Friday, mirroring a decision made Tuesday on Dryden’s hydraulic fracturing ban.

In the brewing legal melee between gas drilling companies and local municipalities seeking to ban hydraulic fracturing on their lands, round one, it appears, is over: Local communities in a win by decision.

As hundreds of anti-fracking protestors descended on the New York State Capitol Monday, the Tompkins County Council of Governments released a comprehensive study detailing the potentially transformative effects of hydraulic fracturing on the region.