Cuomo's fracking ban has some New York towns contemplating secession
Environmentalists praised New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last December when he moved to settle the longstanding debate over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in his state and issued an all-out ban on the controversial gas-extraction method.
In New York’s Southern Tier, however, the ban was seen not as a cause for celebration but rather as the final straw, dashing hopes that the rural region's resource-rich land might be the golden ticket to a revitalized economy. As a result, a number of towns in this long-struggling rural region are contemplating whether they should make a break for it.
According to WBNG in Binghampton, 15 towns are interested in seceding to neighboring Pennsylvania. An organization called the Upstate New York Towns Association is looking into whether secession is even possible and, if so, whether it makes economic sense.
Fracking is legal in Pennsylvania, where thousands of wells are currently drilling into that state’s portion of the Marcellus Shale, the same gas-filled formation of sedimentary rock that sits below New York. For a region wrestling with steep state property taxes and dwindling industry, from manufacturing to farming, the fracking revenue their neighbors in Pennsylvania appear to be reaping is nothing short of enviable.
“Everybody over the border has new cars, new four-wheelers, new snowmobiles,” James Finch, a Republican supervisor for the small town of Conklin told Capital New York. “They have new roofs, new siding.”
Finch, clearly a vocal advocate for the secession movement, also spoke to WBNG, which first reported the unrest. Finch told the local news station that “the Southern Tier is desolate. We have no jobs and no income. The richest resource we have is in the ground.”
In lieu of fracking, Cuomo’s administration has pledged to invest $50 million in the Southern Tier, to fund things such as farming grants and a clean-energy plan in the region. Town leaders like Finch and others have dismissed the pledge as insufficient.
“They’re good ideas, but can they bring in the revenue? Can they bring in the jobs this area needs?” Carolyn Price, a Windsor town supervisor and secession supporter, said to Capital New York.
While Pennsylvania’s property taxes are also seen as part of the appeal for business owners, some proprietors are concerned about whether their existing enterprises would survive the secession. For a liquor store owner like Conklin’s Francis Larkin, the fact that Pennsylvania’s government has full control over all alcohol sales within the state is something to think about.
“From my standpoint, owning a liquor store, if we were part of Pennsylvania, it would be hard,” Larkin told WBNG.
This is hardly the first time parts of New York have threatened to secede, but no movement has been successful since the creation of Vermont during the Revolutionary War. That doesn’t seem to discourage this new wave of secessionists. One state senator has already mailed out a survey to gauge his constituents’ interest in seceding, and the Upstate New York Towns Association promises to keep the local media abreast of its findings as it weighs the pros and cons of leaving old New York.
The Southern Tier couldn’t simply run away, of course. The rest of the state’s lawmakers would have to agree to let those cities go, and even then, who knows if Pennsylvania would want to acquire them? To those desperate for a change, however, it might seem worth the long shot.
