CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

Environmental activists and their allies in the Assembly held a news conference to praise last night’s Assembly passage of the moratorium on new natural gas wells statewide. Now on Gov. David Paterson’s desk, the measure runs through May 15 and covers the controversial hydrofracking method as well as the more conventional vertical drilling technique.

Not surprising considering the length of the debate and the possible environmental/economic impacts of hydrofracking, each side was describing the ban as — depending on who you talk to — a major common-sense victory for environmentalists or a job-killing piece of politicized hysteria.

Paterson, however, described it as “really not that big a deal” in a Tuesday-morning radio interview with Susan Arbetter of the “Capitol Pressroom.”

He acknowledged that the DEC’s work on the draft regulations wouldn’t be completed by the end of his administration — and possibly not even by the end date of the moratorium.

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