Senate Democrats are pushing their Republican counterparts to follow the lead of the Assembly majority and include funds in the state budget for an analysis of the health impacts of hydrofracking.
The Senate’s minority conference is pushing for $300,000 in state funds for a pair of studies: one on human health impacts of the process used with natural-gas drilling, and another on the “geological effect” of the technique. Assembly Democrats have included $100,000 for a health study, which would be conducted by a SUNY university.
“The Senate Democratic Conference has concerns about hydrofracking and wants more information about the process, safeguards and potential ramifications to be made public before any action is taken,” Senate Minority Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, said in a statement Thursday. “Currently, there are too many unknown factors which must be resolved before we allow oil and gas companies to drill and pump chemicals into our state.”
Sampson’s conference will also hold a public hearing of their own on hydrofracking in April after their attempt to force one was rejected by the GOP.
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