ALBANY – State Senator John Bonacic said, Monday, he supports the state DEC’s generic environmental impact study for natural gas drilling in Marcellus shale formations in Sullivan County and the Southern Tier.

Bonacic said natural gas is our own backyard is something that should be extracted. Drilling would boost economic vitality, he said. And Bonacic said the DEC has imposed stringent regulations for the process.

“In life you can worry about everything, but you have to make intelligent, balanced judgments, and in my mind, we have done that,” he said. “We have strengthened DEC to impose these very strict regulations and at the same time, we are allowing the process to continue to enhance our domestic energy supply to become more independent of foreign oil.”

Some environmental groups are not so sure the report goes far enough. They believe safeguards of the New York City Watershed are insufficient.