Coalition of Celebrities Speak Out Against Gas Drilling

By MIREYA NAVARRO

More than 140 artists and celebrities, including Lady Gaga and Paul McCartney, have formed a coalition to try to persuade Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to bar the use of hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas in parts of New York State.

Yoko Ono and her son, Sean Lennon, plan to host an event Wednesday in New York City to introduce the coalition, called Artists Against Fracking, which their publicists are billing as the mother-son duo's “first ever activist partnership.”

According to the invitation, the coalition includes the author Salman Rushdie, the restaurateur Mario Batali and some of the biggest names in show business, including Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Julianne Moore and Gwyneth Paltrow. Some in the group have homes near the upstate areas where the new drilling could take place.

“Our aim is for the world to embrace sustainable living and develop renewable energies through economic viable alternative s to fossil fuel,” the group says on its Web site.

Ms. Ono and Mr. Lennon previously discussed their intention to form the coalition on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.”

Such star power represents a coup for an antifracking movement in New York that so far has counted on just a few celebrities, led by the Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo, to burnish its image. The new coalition comes amid increasingly visible opposition to Mr. Cuomo's consideration of new regulations that would allow fracking in some parts of the state.

Polls show New Yorkers to be deeply divided over fracking, a technology that involves blasting shale with millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals to release natural gas.

On their Web site, the artists warn of the dangers of accidental contamination of aquifers with drilling chemicals, and the wastewater that would be produced by drilling operations.

But mostly, the celebrities take direct a im at the governor. Their Web site's home page gives out the number for his office and a web address for e-mails and urges people to “Contact Governor Cuomo to voice your opinion!”

It is uncertain how much weight the artists' opinions will have. But they are likely to further energize the environmental movement, which is debating the oil and gas industry and some landowners and local officials in communities that see drilling as a source of new investment and jobs.

Brad Gill, executive director of the industry group Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York, responded to the emergence of the coalition with a terse statement saying that he trusted that Mr. Cuomo would rely on science to make a decision, as the governor has pledged to do.

“The people elected Governor Cuomo, not celebrities, to lead New York and to make decisions that are in the best interest of the environment, the state economy and the people of the Southern Tier,” Mr. Gill sai d.

The industry association had previously dismissed antifracking celebrities, including Mr. Ruffalo and Debra Winger, in a postcard delivered to lawmakers in Albany that said: “Welcome to Hollywood, N.Y. where the line between fact and fiction is blurred.”

A spokesman for the governor, Joshua Vlasto, said Mr. Cuomo had not heard from the artists directly. Asked by a reporter about hydrofracking on Wednesday, Mr. Cuomo promised that “we will make a decision on the facts.

“There is extraordinary passion on both sides of the equation on fracking, and one of the things we're trying to do is say, I understand the emotion, I understand the passion, I understand the demonstrations,” he said. “We've seen them pro and we've seen them con all over the state. Let's make the decision on the facts. Let the science dictate the conclusion - and that's just what we're doing.”

Thomas Kaplan contributed reporting.