REGION — They were so committed, active and numerous that a new name had to be created to describe them—fractivists, or activists opposed to high-volume hydraulic fracturing.

After Gov. Cuomo announced on December 17 that fracking would be banned in the state, he traveled the next day to Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. He had not, however, come to talk about the fracking ban, but instead about Sullivan County’s newly-promised casino. Analysts say he is distancing himself from the ban should he seek the presidency one day.

But he did acknowledge to a small group of fractivists elsewhere that they had been instrumental in shaping the conclusion that was ultimately reached. In a YouTube video shot by journalist Sabrina Artel (tinyurl.com/mbdhukl), Cuomo accepted a sign handed to him thanking him for the ban, and he said, “You really did a great job of making your voices heard, and that’s what democracy’s all about; and I actually enjoyed seeing it in action. I know it didn’t always seem that way.”

The community of fractivists in the Upper Delaware River Valley sprouted up in 2008 and grew vigorously over the next several years to include Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy (CCSE), Catskill Mountainkeeper, Damascus Citizens for Sustainability and Sullivan Area Citizens for Responsible Energy Development. They teamed up with other environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), EarthJustice, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and the Community Environmental Defense Council. The fractivists included celebrities such as Mark Ruffalo, Debra Winger, Yoko Ono and filmmaker Josh Fox.

Early on, it seemed inevitable that New York would soon complete its Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) within a few months and drilling and fracking in the state would commence. Many were convinced that the coming gas rush would bring riches to residents who lived above the Marcellus Shale, and the economic benefit would be “transformative to the region.” But questions arose about health impacts and economic viability; skepticism grew and people engaged. The completion of the SGEIS stretched from months to years.

The growing opposition to fracking could be seen in the ever increasing number of comments submitted to New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). In 2009, a draft version of the SGEIS elicited 14,000 comments. Three years later a revised draft SGEIS received more than 65,000 mostly negative comments. In 2013, the DEC received more than 200,000 comments criticizing the proposed fracking regulations, with nearly 24,000 coming through CCSE.

The fractivists also took their message on the road with numerous trips to Albany to lobby lawmakers and trips to other parts of the state and the country that were having issues with fracking. They also took their message to town halls, and in Sullivan County five towns passed resolutions banning hydraulic fracturing. The fractivists took their message to the courts and three times the state courts ruled that towns had the right to ban fracking.

Sometimes the fracitvists’ message was repeated so often and with such intensity that officials attempted to silence them. The board members of the Town of Sanford in Broome County were so sick of hearing residents complain about gas drilling and fracking that, in September 2012, the board passed a resolution forbidding residents from talking about it during public comment.

That sparked a federal lawsuit from local residents who were joined by the NRDC and CCSE. A few months later the town board rescinded the resolution.

It was a long, intense and sometimes bitter battle. The boards of two towns in Sullivan County adopted measures intended to invite drilling into the town. For now, those invitations have been revoked by the state.

The fractivits would say it seems unlikely that future studies will show that fracking can be done safely. Still, it’s not at all certain that the ban won’t be reversed at some point by some future governor.

But whatever the future, for now, the first state-wide ban of fracking in the country is a historic victory for the fractivists.