Updated 11/13/2010 04:22 PM
Actor and anti-fracking activist Mark Ruffalo blasts Cuomo over fracking comments
The hydrofracking debate heats up as Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo appears to offer support for the controversial practice. But a Hollywood A-lister was in Albany Thursday, speaking out against it. Our Solomon Syed has more.
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NEW YORK STATE -- The battle over hydrofracking rages on, and New York's incoming governor made his clearest statement to date on where he falls on the issue during a radio interview Thursday morning on the "John Gambling Show" with New York City's WOR.
"If it were safe, if the watersheds were protected, and if it could create jobs, great," said Cuomo.
Those statements may not sit well with natural gas drilling opponents, especially in the eyes of one of its most well-known protesters.
"You don't put everyone else in jeopardy just because it's going to bring jobs, it just doesn't have very much foresight to it," said actor and anti-fracking activist Mark Ruffalo.
The Sullivan County resident put on a fracking awareness forum at the University at Albany just hours after Cuomo offered what many interpret as support for the controversial drilling method.
"He's saying he won't drill in places where there's watersheds. But, I hate to tell you, Andrew Cuomo, the whole state is a watershed," said Ruffalo. "Why is one person's watershed more important than another person's watershed? He's got a serious issue."
Perhaps anticipating criticism, Cuomo qualified his stance in the same interview.
"We don't have the facts. We have a lot of emotion, but we don't have the facts," said Cuomo. "I will not do anything until the facts are determined by bona fide studies."
Some of those answers could come when the Environmental Protection Agency wraps up its investigation into hydrofracking's potential impact on drinking water and public health. However, the results of the study aren't expected until 2012.
Ruffalo's not pulling any punches right now.
"Hey, you don't bring your daughter to the red light district because you're having hard times," said Ruffalo.