William J. Kemble is reporting in the Daily Freeman opponents of hydraulic fracturing are increasing pressure for the Hurley Town Board to institute a ban on the controversial gas-drilling process and associated activities. The town has a proposed fracking moratorium on the table that would bar reviews of any applications for any new wells, projects or businesses involving the practices of horizontal or directional drilling or hydraulic fracturing. In Ulster County, fracking has been banned in the towns of Marbletown, New Paltz, Rosendale, Rochester and Woodstock. A statewide moratorium on fracking has been in effect since June 2008 in New York. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has said he would not decide whether to lift that moratorium until a health impact review launched in 2012 is completed. The Hurley Town Board conducted a public hearing in March on a proposed ban, but it has said it does not want to act amid the state review. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.