‘Fracking’ draws local ire at hearing on state’s draft energy plan
By Emma Sapong
While the state’s draft energy plan is largely mum on hydrofracking, local residents were not during a hearing on the issue Tuesday at the University at Buffalo’s Center for Tomorrow on the North Campus in Amherst.
“Gov. Cuomo wants to frack upstate New York so bad, he can taste it – to further his vision for the White House,” said James C. Hufnagel, a Wilson resident. “The governor needs to make a definitive statement to ban fracking in upstate New York.”
“The plan describes natural gas as a ‘clean’ energy source; it is not,” said Rita I. Yelda, of Food & Water Watch and Western NY Drilling Defense. “Fracking, the primary method of gas extraction today, poisons land, air and water, makes people sick and contributes to climate change.”
Hydrofracking, or “fracking,” is a controversial drilling technique that has been used to greatly increase natural gas production in states such as Pennsylvania, by using millions of gallons of pressurized water, mixed with chemicals, to blast open natural gas deposits in shale formations that were inaccessible under conventional drilling techniques. Opponents say fracking poses environmental hazards such as contaminating water supplies.
http://www.buffalonews.com/business/fracking-draws-local-ire-at-hearing-on-states-draft-energy-plan-20140226
