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Can two Ithaca lawyers keep fracking out of New York state?

Matt Richmond/Innovation Trail

The fate of hydraulic fracturing in New York is still being determined by state regulators.

But that doesn’t mean municipalities aren’t taking action.

There are about 100 towns in New York that have passed laws either banning hydraulic fracturing or oil and gas operations altogether. Most of the bans are temporary, about 20 are permanent.

The driving force behind those bans: two Ithaca lawyers, Helen and David Slottje.

 

You can find more on this story at the Innovation Trail website.

The Innovation Trail is a collaboration between five upstate New York public media outlets. The initiative, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), will help the public gain a better understanding of the connection between technological breakthroughs and the revitalization of upstate New York's economy.

Matt Richmond comes to Binghamton's WSKG, a WRVO partner station in the Innovation Trail consortium, from South Sudan, where he worked as a stringer for Bloomberg, and freelanced for Radio France International, Voice of America, and German Press Agency dpa. He has worked with KQED in Los Angeles, Cape Times in Cape Town, South Africa, and served in the Peace Corps in Cameroon. Matt's masters in journalism is from the Annenberg School for Communication at USC.