After the shutdown of the UB Shale Institute and recent releases of films like Josh Fox’s The Sky is Pink and New Yorkers against Fracking documentary Dear Governor Cuomo, it seemed as if progress was being made.

Then on November 28th, the Department of Environmental Conservation issued proposed regulations for fracking in the state of New York.

Today, SUNY Buffalo closed the doors of its Shale Resources and Society Institute (SRSI), what we at DeSmog have described as an epicenter for “frackademia” and a public relations front for the oil and gas industry to promote hydraulic fracturing (“fracking“) under the guise of scientific legitimacy that a university offers.