The New York State Senate voted 48-9 to impose a moratorium on shale gas drilling early this morning, just after midnight, passing the Thompson (S.8129B) / Sweeney (A.11443-B) measure. The bill would place a halt on granting new drilling permits until May, 2011. Locally, Steve Saland and James Seward voted for the moratorium. Assemblyman Tim Gordon, who represents parts of Greene, Columbia, and Albany counties, supports the measure and told WGXC, "If we want to proceed on this, I think we need to do it right, and there are still some unanswered questions." Assemblyman Pete Lopez recently came out against the moratorium, saying, "In this case, (a moratorium) just gives the (Department of Environmental Conservation) cover so they don’t have to come out with the regulations."