In a Siena College Poll released Monday morning, 45 percent of the respondents said they oppose hydraulic fracturing (commonly known as “fracking”), the largest ever anti-fracking sentiment in a Siena poll.
Only 37 percent of the 807 New Yorkers polled said they would support fracking, the controversial method for drawing natural gas from underground using chemicals, water and sand.
Opposition in upstate New York, where the drilling would take place, is at 52 percent.
New York State has had a moratorium on fracking, since 2008, after health concerns from fracking arose across the river in Pennsylvania. Water wells in several Pennsylvania counties where fracking took place were contaminated.
In September of 2012, Gov. Cuomo ordered New York State Health Commissioner Nariv Shah to conduct a health study on the impact fracking could have in the region. Despite opposition from the oil and gas industry, the moratorium will continue until the study is complete.
No time line has been given for the completion of the study.
With natural gas prices plummeting, the oil and gas industry has grown wary of waiting on New York State to pass regulations to allow drilling. The wait has also fueled the growing anti-fracking movement, as evident in poll numbers, and large anti-fracking rallies that follow Gov. Cuomo around the state.
Support for fracking in the Siena polls was at its highest (42 percent), in December and October of 2012. Opposition has seen its highest numbers in April and September of this year.
