NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman

A decision about hydrofracking in New York has been delayed mostly because of the well-organized opposition of anti-drilling advocacy groups, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday.

State officials have been studying the drilling technique for more than four years and Gov. Andrew Cuomo has not yet announced a decision on whether to allow it.

“I’m surprised the governor hasn’t done anything yet, and I attribute that to the political organization of the anti-frackers,” Schneiderman said Tuesday at a Post-Standard editorial board meeting. “They have out-organized the oil and gas industry. That’s impressive.”

Schneiderman said the anti-fracking movement was the most impressive example of political organization he’s seen in Albany this year — even more so than the NRA-backed protests against the NY SAFE Act gun control law passed in January.

At the governor’s State of the State speech in January, Schneiderman noted, thousands of anti-hydrofrackers lined the concourse of the Empire State Plaza.

The anti-fracking coalition has been so strong, Schneiderman said, that gas drillers might not bother pursing hydrofracking in New York.

“At this point it seems they’ve almost given up on New York,” Schneiderman said. “They’ve got other places they can frack where it’s less trouble. If you make enough of a nuisance of yourself, people will leave you alone.”

Schneiderman’s office has already been involved in several hydrofracking lawsuits. Schneiderman in 2011 sued the federal government for not properly studying the effects of hydrofracking in the Delaware River basin. That suit was dismissed last year.

The attorney general also intervened when gas companies tried to extend land leases that were set to expire. The companies said the leases could be indefinitely extended because the state had not yet reached a decision on hydrofracking, but hundreds of homeowners went to court and won the right to end or renegotiate the leases.

Schneiderman said he is also closely watching the court cases of towns that have banned gas drilling and were taken to court by gas companies. The towns have won several legal victories so far.

As the state’s top lawyer, Schneiderman would have to defend the state in any lawsuit brought over a hydrofracking decision. Both sides agree that there will likely be a lawsuit whatever Cuomo decides.