Fredric U. Dicker
EXCLUSIVE
Gov. Cuomo has come up with yet another excuse for delaying a decision on allowing fracking for natural gas in New York's Southern Tier: He's afraid the Legislature will stop him, The Post has learned.
At least that's what Cuomo told a high-level meeting of state business leaders at the Executive Mansion just a few weeks ago, when he was pressed on why he wouldn't green-light a process that even his own state Health Department said was safe and that his Environmental Conservation Department said will create tens of thousands of jobs in one of the poorest areas of the state.
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'The governor was pressed on why he's waited nearly 2½ years.' —State Business Council insider
"The governor was pressed on why he's waited nearly 2 1/2 years and still hasn't made a decision,'' said one of the participants at the luncheon meeting, during which Cuomo hosted the leaders of the Business Council of New York State, the state's largest business organization and one that endorsed him for governor in 2010.
"Cuomo said he was afraid of the Legislature, that if he gave the go-ahead to hydrofracking then the Legislature would pass a moratorium and try to ban it, and that they'd probably do it with enough votes to override his veto,'' the source continued.
Reached for comment, Cuomo spokesman and Chief of Staff Josh Vlasto insisted that the source was wrong and that the governor had never told business leaders that he feared the Legislature would impose a moratorium or override a veto.
"Totally false,'' Vlasto told The Post.
But Business Council President and CEO Heather Briccetti told The Post that Cuomo had, in fact, made the statement to members of the council's board of directors.
"The governor basically told our group that he was concerned that if he moved forward and allowed hydrofracking to take place, the Legislature would pass a moratorium, which would further complicate moving forward in the future," Briccetti said.
"And he said he was concerned they would do it with enough votes to override a veto if he issued one.''
Cuomo has offered many excuses for not making a decision on fracking since taking office in January 2011 — even as he's privately told business leaders and others he intended to allow fracking to go forward.
Most recently, he's claimed to be waiting for a new, last-minute health review on fracking's possible hazards from Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah, even though Shah's department concluded last year that the natural-gas drilling, already being used in nearly 30 states, could be safely done.
Cuomo never mentioned Shah or any concerns about potential health hazards at the Business Council meeting, Briccetti said.
Sources said Cuomo had also told associates that he's decided to put off a final decision until the end of next year because he wants to get through his 2014 re-election campaign without being harassed by anti-hydrofracking protestors who have dogged him during several public appearances.
Publicly, Cuomo has repeatedly insisted since running for election in 2010 that he would allow "the science and engineering'' to decide whether fracking could be safely done, but he's also contradicted that position by claiming public opposition had become a factor.
He's also shown himself able to get the Legislature to go along with highly controversial proposals that he favors, such as same-sex marriage, the tough new gun law, a new Tier 6 pension system, and ending pork-barrel "member items."
fdicker@nypost.com
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