The 4.2 million member strong online community MoveOn.org is sending out an email urging its supporters to sign a Working Families Party petition that would place a one-year moratorium on hydrofracking.

It is rare for MoveOn to engage in local issues, and it is believed to be the first time that the group has collaborated with the New York City-based WFP.

The WFP delivered 22,000 signatures to the Senate last night. If the Senate passes the moratorium, the Assembly is expected to follow suit.

In the spring, Congress asked the Environmental Protection Agency to study the risks of hydrofracking, and the WFP and their allies are urging an end to all natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale until that study is complete.

"People who saw what happened in the Gulf this summer feel like it's important to have energy independence, but it's important to get these things right before we allow drilling," said WFP spokesman Dan Levitan.

When the Senate's regular session ended,  backers of a moratorium figured they had lost the fight, but now that the Senate continues to has a budget agreement, there is hope among them that they could still delay drilling until the EPA's study is complete in 2011.