Syracuse Council Bans Fracking Gas Wells

The Syracuse Common Council's ban on the gas drilling process known as hydrofracking.  Syracuse joins Albany and Buffalo in banning hydrofracking. Syracuse Council Majority Leader Kathleen Joy spearheaded the legislation in her city. She says it will send a message to state regulators that communities have the right to protect themselves from potential health and environmental hazards.

But the gas industry says fracking is safe and the bans enacted in numerous communities are illegal because only the state has authority to regulate the industry.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is expected to allow drilling and hydrofracking for gas in the lucrative Marcellus Shale formation of southern New York early next year when new regulations are in place.  (Times Herald Record, AP, 10/25/2011)