Tkaczyk says GOP killed her fracking waste bill
Jordan Carleo-Evangelist
Senate Republicans have squashed a bill authored by state Sen. Cecilia Tkaczyk that would have banned the shipment of hydrofracking waste from other states into New York for treatment or disposal.
After Tkaczyk forced a vote on the stalled legislation in the Senate’s Environmental Conservation committee by using a parliamentary procedure known as a motion to consider, the panel’s ruling Republicans voted it down despite support from five Democrats as well as committee Vice Chair Tony Avella, now a member of the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference that runs the Senate with the GOP.
Tkaczyk, a Duanesburg Democrat running for re-election this year against Republican George Amedore, introduced the legislation last May arguing that it did not make sense that New York would allow other states to dispose of fracking waste in water treatment plants in New York before the state has weighed in on whether to allow fracking here at all.
In a press release announcing the bill’s demise, Tkaczyk suggested the Republican resistance was motivated by “millions of dollars in campaign contributions from oil and gas corporations” — a suggestion to which, you will not be surprised to learn, the GOP did not take kindly.
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/211545/tkaczyk-says-gop-killed-her-fracking-waste-bill/
