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By David King

In 2008, companies with a stake in natural gas drilling in New York spent a little less than $400,000 on lobbying. In 2009, that number tripled, with groups like the Independent Oil and Gas Association and Chesapeake Energy spending over $1,200,000. Lobbying dollars from the same sources only increased in 2010, hitting nearly $1,600,000.

What sparked that rise? Although most groups and companies spending that kind of money on lobbying have a myriad of issues before the state legislature, this spending spiked as the debate about the safety of hydraulic fracturing grew increasingly heated.

Full Article & What Liz Has to Say

By Tom Casey

On the day of a large rally outside the Capitol, Senate Democrats introduced the first significant legislation against hydraulic fracturing since the 2010 moratorium imposed by former Gov. David Paterson and the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Sens. Tony Avella, D-Whitestone, Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, and Joseph Addabbo, D-Queens, introduced a package of bills April 11 that includes three bills for tighter regulations and transparency for oil and gas drilling and a bill by Avella to ban hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, in New York state.

Full Article

Krueger said the hearings would include constitutional authorities and other expert witnesses to discuss proposed bills requiring broader financial disclosure of lawmakers’ outside income, lawyer legislators to release the names of clients who do business with the state and those taking away pensions from lawmakers who are convicted of public corruption.

Many of these reform items, Krueger said, are the same things Governor Andrew Cuomo said he wants included in an ethics reform package that he will negotiate with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

“It fits in perfectly,” Krueger said.

Full Article

Senator Liz Krueger and Senate Democrats are trying to push the Republican majority into supporting a host of ethics reform measures and are attempting to force the issue by using a Senate rule to get a hearing on the matter.