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High-volume slick-water horizontal fracturing, commonly referred to as "fracking," is a process by which oil and gas are extracted from underground rock formations. The process involves injecting fracking fluid (a mixture of water, sand, and toxic chemicals) under high pressure deep into the earth to fracture the rock and release the gas. By the time a well pad is built and the fracking done, each well (and there are currently upwards of 20 wells per well pad in Pennsylvania) requires around a thousand round-trip heavy-truck trips and the injection of millions of gallons of water and thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the ground. Although this toxic fluid has led to at least 1,000 documented cases of surface water and ground water contamination in drilling areas around the nation, gas industry lobbyists managed to convince Congress to exempt fracking from EPA regulation under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act in 2005. And water contamination is not the only danger posed by fracking. Copious diesel fumes from trucks and stationary equipment, combined with the methane and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) vented off of drilling equipment, also pose a serious danger to air quality and public health. Again, the gas industry has managed to secure special exemptions from federal air pollution regulation. Last but not least, the heavy truck traffic and industrialization of the landscape that make fracking possible threaten to undermine the tourism industry, agriculture, and property values in our region.

Contrary to industry claims, the high-volume slick-water horizontal fracturing required to extract shale gas in our region (as opposed to fracking in conventional gas development) has been in use for fewer than ten years and has already caused significant damage to the communities in which it has been deployed. In New York State, the governor and the gas industry are pushing hard to lift a statewide moratorium on fracking in early 2012. The DEC, meanwhile, is recommending a ban on fracking in the unfiltered New York City and Syracuse watersheds, while leaving most of the state--including Monroe County, which sits atop the gas- and oil-rich Utica Shale Formation, unprotected.

Given the regulatory vacuum at the federal and state levels, and given the grave risks that fracking poses to the environment, public health, and economy of our region, we believe that a moratorium on fracking is needed to allow our town time to prepare for, and possibly prevent, the industrializing effects of this type of energy extraction by developing appropriate zoning laws and land-use regulation. We also believe that instituting such a local moratorium--particularly in conjunction with the dozens of other communities currently working toward their own moratoria--will send a message to the Cuomo Administration that the current trajectory of its gas policy is unacceptable to the citizens of New York State.