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GOP senate candidate urges action on fracking

Karen DeWitt/WXXI

The Republican Senate candidate challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Wendy Long, is urging swift action on hydrofracking in New York.

Wendy Long says the announcement by the US Geological Survey that the Utica Shale deposit, which lies below the Marcellus Shale,  is even larger than predicted, should mean even more jobs for New Yorkers, and she urged her opponent in the race, Gillibrand, to be more supportive of fracking.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has once again delayed a report on whether to allow fracking, saying health data needs to be reviewed first. But Long says she doesn’t blame Cuomo for delays, but rather what she calls the “celebrity” led opposition that he faces.

“I think he’s in a very lonely place,” Long said.

Long says if Cuomo were to eventually decide to decide not to allow fracking in the state, then she would “criticize” him.

The Republican candidate says if elected she’d vote to repeal Obamacare. But says she would not support a federal tax code overhaul if it meant eliminating state and local tax deductions from federal income taxes.

Capitol Bureau Chief for New York State Public Radio.