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Today, Senator Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) sent a letter to the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) requesting they rescind the draft Natural Gas Development Regulations, a proposed set of guidelines for natural gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin.  While an Executive Order currently prohibits all horizontal gas drilling in the State, the actions of the DRBC have raised concerns that regional entities will undercut the strength of State laws even as New York works to set the highest environmental and safety standards.

The letter, which was co-signed by many of Senator Krueger’s colleagues, urges the DRBC to halt all action that would set plans for natural gas drilling into motion until the State’s Environmental Impact Statement is complete and a full cumulative review has been conducted.  The Delaware River Basin, which spans across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, provides New York City with much of its drinking water.

“We are talking about a practice that has raised so many red flags that the New York State Senate, Assembly and eventually the Governor, felt it should be temporarily banned until more research has been done,” said Senator Krueger. “And yet despite the fact that New York does not allow hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale, the DRBC has set into motion a process which would allow this very type of drilling within the river’s basin, a basin that runs through New York. This sets a terrible precedent of establishing standards and regulations before all the facts are in.”

Hydro-fracking is a process of gas drilling by which millions of water mixed with chemicals are blasted into the earth to break up shale rock, releasing natural gas embedded inside the rock. However, the exact make up of the chemical “cocktail” used in the fracking process is not known because drilling companies closely guard these ingredients, claiming that information about specific mixtures needs to be kept secret from competitors. Therefore there is no way of monitoring or tracking which chemicals are seeping into the Earth, and thus into New York’s water supply, because the exact chemicals are unknown.

Senate colleagues who joined Senator Krueger include:

Senator Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn)

Joseph Addabbo (D-Queens)

Tony Avella (D-Queens)

Ruth Hassell-Thompson (D-Westchester)

Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn)

Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx)

Diane Savino (D-Staten Island)

Toby Stavisky (D-Queens)

Daniel Squadron (D-Brooklyn)

Letter to DRBC

By Rachael Fauss

On Nov. 2, 2010, New Yorkers elected candidates for state government and in doing so, probably unbeknownst to themselves, they reduced the number of female state legislators. Women hold no major leadership posts in the legislature and none of the four statewide offices, although one of New York’s U.S. senators — Kirsten Gillibrand — is a woman.

New York State gave women the right to vote in 1917 — three years before the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was enacted — and has had many leaders for women’s suffrage such as Susan B. Anthony and the organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention. Today, however, New York lags behind other states in terms of the representation of women in government, both in elected and appointed positions.

Experts disagree about what accounts for the glass ceiling in New York politics, although, as with everything else in politics, money seems to be one factor…

…Krueger believes that women’s unique experiences mean that they view issues differently. “Women are living longer and ending up in poverty at the end of their lives more than men, and women disproportionally end up being primary caretakers for children and aging parents,” she said. “The more people that are at the table making decisions that actually come with these diverse personal experiences, the more you will see change in policy and budget decisions about the priorities of the state.”…

Full Article.

By Liz Benjamin

The new Senate Minority conference is appealing to the GOP majority in hopes of leveling the playing field when it comes to resources and bringing legislation to the floor.

Senators Liz Krueger and Daniel Squadron are proposing a resolution that would give minority members the power to introduce bills even if the majority leader disapproves. It would also require each side have equal staff allocations, resources, and member items.

Krueger touted the rules reform adopted after the 2009 coup, which allowed the then-GOP minority access to more resources.

Of course, now that the Dems are back in the minority, they want those rules to go even further, saying the changes adopted in January and June of 2009 were merely a first step forward.

“What we are hoping to do with this year’s changing rules is to move the ball down the field,” Krueger said using one of many references to football following the New York Jets win over the Patriots Sunday.

“We’re very proud as Democrats to have significantly improve the rules of the Senate over the last two years, but we didn’t go far enough. We know that.”

Republicans are expected to introduce a resolution today that would expand the current rules through Feb. 1. Krueger says she wants the Senate to adopt these new rules now before the budget process begins that same day.

Sen. Krueger and her colleagues were also asked about eliminating member items as a way to ease the state’s estimated $10 billion deficit, which they agreed is a good idea. However, if member items find their way into the budget they say those items should be equal across the board.

Full Article

By Jillian Jonas

In the days leading up to and immediately following Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s inauguration, almost all attention has focused on what Cuomo might do to fix the state’s budget woes and clean up Albany. The governor’s stands on other issues have received far less scrutiny, and that includes his position on the status of the state’s largest affordable housing program — rent regulation.

2011 will be a big year for New York’s tenants, especially for those living in rent- stabilized apartments. On June 15, the state laws governing rent regulations — which primarily affect New York City — will expire unless the legislature and governor successfully broker a deal to renew them. Along with limits on some rents, these regulations give tenants the right to renew their leases and protect them against eviction without legal cause, and ensure services.

Cuomo takes office at a particularly turbulent and risky time for housing in the state as New York suffers the fallout from years of predatory lending and the collapse of the housing market. Although Cuomo once served as U.S. housing secretary and has run a housing nonprofit, he has given little indication of what he might do about this crucial issue. The stakes, though, are undeniably high.

Read Full Article.

Today, Senator Liz Krueger joined The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC to discuss looking ahead and working with Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Listen to Liz on Brian Lehrer’s morning show, “First Impressions: Cuomo and the State Senate.”