Town of Rochester, NY Considers Fracking Ban

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The Town of Rochester, NY, located in Ulster County along the Hudson River (and not the City of Rochester located on the opposite side of the state) is considering a ban on hydraulic fracturing:

One Ulster County town is moving forward with plans to ban hydrofracking to extract natural gas.  The Town of Rochester is considering the adoption of a local law to ban the practice and that is something the town is within its rights to do, said Town Supervisor Carl Chipman.

“We have the right to zone in our town as we see fit and that’s part of home rule, self-determination of what we want to do with our town and in accordance with what we’ve done with our comprehensive plan,” Chipman said. “We updated our comprehensive plan about five years ago and that’s our vision for the town and hydraulic fracturing and the consequences of it are not part of our vision.”

Prohibiting fracking, according to the proposed local law, would protect the town’s wetlands, lakes, streams, groundwater resources, drinking supplies, public roads, historic landscapes, agriculture, small town character, tourism and the town’s recreational based economy.*

It’s doubtful there’s any recoverable Marcellus gas beneath the town anyway. It sits along the far eastern edge of the Marcellus Shale deposit. Still, always a shame when short-sighted politicians feel the need to curry favor with deep-pocketed enviro-leftists. MDN encourages you to vote people like Town Supervisor Carl Chipman out of office at the next election cycle.

*Mid-Hudson News Network (Jun 4, 2012) – Town of Rochester may become first in Ulster County to ban fracking

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