Governor Cuomo's Drilling Plan

6/13/2012 (Updated 11:17:19 PM)

A plan to allow but limit hydrofracking to the Southern Tier region
is getting quick reaction from both sides.

The New York Times reports that the plan that the Cuomo Administration is pursuing is not final, and would only allow fracking in communities that approve of the process, and only if fracking gets final approval from the state.

The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York feels that although the process might at first be limited to the southern region, near the Pennsylvania border, it will spread.

"I think as it gets going where you're going to see it is at the 2,000 foot mark... along the Southern Border.  As towns see it happen, and that it's done safely, they're going to want it, too," said Dan Fitzsimmons from the Joint Landowners Coalition.

"It means to me that the Southern Tier is being treated as 2nd class citizens..If they're saying it's not safe in some parts of the state, but only going to be allowed in others, it's unfair, it's treating us as second class, exposing us to hazards that are not allowed in the rest of the state," said Ben Perkus from New York Residents Against Drilling.