Energy

The past few days have been busy ones in the world of natural gas extraction:

• New hydrofracking rules from the Department of Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were met with complaints from both sides.
• A New York environmental group is questioning whether the state's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) believes wastewater is a real concern.
• And the EPA withheld a study on aquifer contamination in Wyoming at the request of the governor - who then used the delay to prepare a smear campaign.

Here's details on each:

Happy Monday morning. Here's today's trail mix:

Are firms that were kicked out of the Empire Zone program striking back?

An audit finds that BOCES programs aren't a bargain for taxpayers.

Cuomo makes history, sort of.

The Cuomo administration announced a slew of clean energy and environmental investments Thursday, including two new testing centers for solar and wind power in Cortland and Potsdam, respectively.

The centers will be run by Intertek, a global testing and consulting company.

Earlier this year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said one of his top priorities is to create an “energy highway” for New York State’s aging power grid.

So what exactly does that mean?

No one is quite sure yet.

There are no oil refineries in upstate New York, but the Niagara River still carries millions of gallons of petroleum to storage facilities each week.

Crews from the U.S. Coast Guard and fuel supplier NOCO Energy, which has locations along the Niagara River, practiced skimming oil from water Tuesday.

But don’t worry, it was only a test.