"Regulators charged with protecting the watershed for New York City and the Philadelphia region today backed off from their toughest restrictions on Marcellus Shale drilling, but still proposed measures stricter than existing rules in nearby areas."
"The New York State Assembly voted 93 to 43 Monday night to place a temporary moratorium on a controversial type of natural gas exploration that combines hydraulic fracturing with horizontal drilling."
"New York gets a D-plus grade for its regulation of industries that affect air and water quality, job growth and other essentials, according to a report by an independent think tank."
"Exxon Mobil Corp. agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit over a decades-old oil spill and related environmental contamination in Brooklyn, New York, state Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said."
New York state is strewn with abandoned wells -- the relics of drilling booms before the current gas bonanza. Their owners are long gone, but they have left a legacy of pollution, sticking taxpayers with the cleanup costs.
"A tightening congressional race in upstate New York could become the first public referendum on shale-gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing."
"Hundreds of people opposed to drilling for natural gas in South Fayette's residential areas packed an auditorium Monday night to tell the township's five commissioners not to permit gas wells near the sprawling school campus."
"A federal jury in Utica has found Certified Environmental Services, Inc., two of its managers and one of its employees guilty of falsifying lab reports to make it appear as if asbestos had been removed from homes, schools, and other buildings when, in fact, asbestos remained in the buildings."
"A coalition of elected officials and unions called on Thursday for faster action from the city and federal government to monitor and, if necessary, remove hazardous chemicals known as PCBs from as many as 700 city schools, calling the problem a 'serious health threat.'"
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