If Senate Democrats win the majority this fall, the conference would move to block any attempt by the Cuomo administration to allow high-volume hydrofracking in New York, Sen. Tony Avella said on Capital Tonight Wednesday evening.

In an interview with Liz, Avella, D-Queens, said the conference would move forward with his ban bill on day one.

“…If we were in the majority, we’d pass the ban bill first day. If the governor goes ahead and allows hydrofracking, we’re going to take steps. I’m not going to say what those steps are. But we’re not giving up the battle,” he said.

“That is a commitment that we make, and my entire Democratic conference, except for I think one member, is a sponsor of my bill,” Avella added.

As Liz noted in CapTon morning memo, the strong anti-fracking stance that the Democrats in the Senate are pushing is in stark contrast to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s cautious position of waiting for the Department of Environmental Conservation to finish its review of the controversial natural-gas extraction method.

Opposing hydrofracking is one of the few areas of agreement for Senate Democrats, a fractious conference of upstate and New York City lawmakers. Though lawmakers in the conference have coalesced in the last term over increasing the minmum wage, womens’ issues and microstamping along with the DREAM Act.

Similarly, it’s one of the few points of contention with the majority Republican conference.

The conference’s efforts to regain the majority haven’t been endorsed by Cuomo, who said he would back candidates this year on a “case-by-case basis.”

But Avella doesn’t seem to be too worried in upsetting the governor.

“Across this state right now is the largest grassroots movement I have ever seen in my career – against hydrofracking…If the governor doesn’t get it, we’re going to move in some fashion to stop this,” Avella said.

Senate Democrats held a public forum on Wednesday in New York City that featured prominent hydrofracking opponents, including filmmaker Josh Fox.

While the stance is certainly one that will fire up the Democratic base in New York, it’s unlikely to help the cash-strapped DSCC receive donations from the monied interests in the natural-gas industry pushing hydrofracking.

“We think this is the single most important environmental issue that New York State has faced in the last 100 years. And the ramifications if we allow it to happen could negatively effect the state for 1,000 years,” he said.

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