The Senate chambers, which have been dark and empty for days, were briefly lit up as opponents of hydrofracking came to the Capitol to lobby for a bill to impose an eleven-month moratorium on the gas extracting process in New York.

The anti-hydrofracking activists brought out the big guns. Folksinger Pete Seeger and actor Mark Ruffalo provided theatrics for the event. Seeger wrote a song for the occasion, saying “drill baby drill” has turned into “spill baby spill.” Holding a jar of dirty water from a contaminated well ruined by hydrofracking, Ruffalo exhorted law makers to “get off your butts and lead—stand up!”

Jim Smith, a lobbyist who represents the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York, says the moratorium legislation isn’t really necessary. It would expire next June, he says, and the DEC reviews hydrofracking applications so carefully that it would take until next spring simply to issue permits. “Let’s look at the product they come up with and then have another discussion about it,” said Smith.
   

Although senators weren’t present to hear the activists' or industry’s arguments, Senate Leader John Sampson issued a statement backing the hydrofracking moratorium bill. He said he values “the importance of fully understanding the impact of drilling before breaking ground.”