 But some residents where the economy is essentially on life-support say they’re
being ignored and have gone so far as to discuss seceding from New York by
either becoming part of neighboring Pennsylvania or dividing New York into two
states — one for upstate and another for downstate.
“It is a longshot, but these are options that need to be developed,” said
Carolyn Price, town supervisor in Windsor and president of the Upstate New York
Towns Association. “This (secession debate) really came from the people.”
“The federal government has come out in favor of (fracking),” said Dan
Fitzsimmons, a resident of Conklin and president of the Joint Landowners
Coalition of New York, “but New York state can’t figure it out.”
“It’s a stunt,” said Roger Downs, conservation director for the Atlantic Chapter
of the Sierra Club. “I don’t believe anyone is looking at this as a legitimate
attempt to secede.”
But for Fitzsimmons and Price, who live in Broome County — one of the state’s
most economically depressed areas — secession is a topic worth debating.
The massive, energy-rich Marcellus Shale formation covers large sections of
Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania and also extends into New York, into a
region called the Southern Tier:
CUOMO SAYS NO: The Marcellus Shale formation is one of the largest natural gas
formations in the world, but New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has placed a ban on
hydraulic fracturing in his state.
The soon-to-be-official fracking ban will keep New York’s natural gas deposits
right where they are — deep underground.
That’s where supporters of the ban say the gas should stay.
“We are continuing to applaud the governor on his precaution,” Downs told
Watchdog.org. “The Cuomo administration has put people before corporate
profits.”
By some estimates, natural gas development in New York could have translated
into anywhere between 25,000 to 54,000 jobs, with a 2011 study conducted by the
state calculating economic value at $2.5 billion annually.
“I’m looking out my window right now and I see Pennsylvania,” said Marchie
Diffendorf, a Broome County resident and chairman of the pro-fracking Kirkwood
Gas Coalition. “The drills are right there, not three miles away. I see several
drilling rigs from my window. It’s pretty disappointing.”
Diffendorf told Watchdog.org that he and his wife own 60 acres and his extended
family owns 500 acres of land that could be used for natural gas development,
but with the fracking ban no drilling will happen.
“So close, but yet so far away,” he said.
Though the “S” word — secession — was sometimes joked about by locals over the
years who have long complained their interests get dwarfed by the sheer number
of people living in the New York City metropolitan area, talk of actually
breaking away from the state intensified last December.
That’s when Cuomo, a Democrat just re-elected to a second term, agreed with a
report from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation that cited
potential risks associated with hydraulic fracturing.
“I am not going to put the health at risk for jobs,” Cuomo said in December.
“I’m not going to make that choice. I’m not going to make it in the Southern
Tier. I’m not going to make it anywhere in the state.”
A final report from the state DEC that ran 1,448 pages was released May 13 and
DEC commissioner Joseph Martens is expected to sign off the on the ban any day
now.
Within days of Cuomo’s December announcement, legal threats and legislative
attempts to turn back the ban made headlines.
At the same time, talk of secession began to percolate.
“The Southern Tier is desolate,” Jim Finch, town supervisor of Conklin, (pop.
5,441), told WBNG-TV. “We have no jobs and no income. The richest resource we
have is in the ground.”
The tally in an online petition calling for upstaters to break off from the New
York City area quickly neared 7,000.
In a one-two punch, on the same day the fracking ban was announced the Upper
Tier learned it had been passed over by a state panel for one of three Las
Vegas-style casinos to be constructed upstate.
“It’s hard to believe that an area so economically depressed could be said no to
twice in one day,” said Price, who has been the town supervisor in Windsor (pop.
6,200) for three years. “It’s very hard to describe how bad it is. I was just
telling someone the other day how excited we are that a new dollar store is
coming to our town.”
Price said the dollar store is the first new business to come to Windsor in 50
years. “That’s right, 50 years,” she said.
A small business owner who has restaurants on each side of the states’ borders
drew attention by pointing out he pays about 20 percent more each year to
operate his business in New York than in Pennsylvania.
“That’s why all of our businesses are going over the border,” Fitzsimmons said
in a telephone interview. “Property taxes are incredible here.”
But seceding from a state and joining another is a daunting prospect.
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 It would first require approval from the New York Legislature,
which is made up of a large majority of Democrats in the State
Assembly (105-44) who generally support the fracking ban. The upper
house, the State Senate, has a slim 32-31 Republican majority.
In order to become part of Pennsylvania, it also require approval of
the Legislature in the Keystone State.
What’s more, the U.S. Constitution calls for Congress to give its
consent.
“We have some lawyers who have told us yes (Congress has to get
involved) and some said no,” Price said. “I think the ones that said
no said that because it’s not forming a new state — it’s becoming
part of an established state. So we’re not sure on that. Definitely
if you’re making a new state (by splitting New York between upstate
and downstate), you have to have it approved by Congress.”
“I think that kind of talk is ridiculous,” the Sierra Club’s
Downs said. “It’s delusional to think that oil and gas development
was going to solve their problems … At this point, these folks are
kind of trumpeting a narrative that will never happen.”
NO FRACKING IN NY: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at a cabinet meeting
Dec. 17, 20014 announced he sided with a report calling for a ban on
high-volume hydraulic fracturing.
Supporters of the ban point to a poll conducted by Quinnipiac
University showing upstate voters supported Cuomo’s decision, 56
percent to 20 percent, and that registered voters across the state
favored the ban by a 30-point margin.
Even Diffendorf — a harsh critic of Cuomo’s decision — concedes
secession is a virtual political impossibility.
“I don’t see it ever happening,” Diffendorft told Watchdog.org. “I
think it’s a feel-good thing to talk about it and to let the
governor know that we are not happy with what he’s done to us.”
Critics of the New York fracking ban pointed to a report released
last week by the Environmental Protection Agency that found no
widespread, systemic risk of pollution of water due to hydraulic
fracturing — the process that uses a mixture of water, sand and
chemicals pumped into a well at high pressure to crack the rock and
release oil and gas.
“But there were tons of caveats to the study,” Downs said. “If
anything, it seems to be in line with the Cuomo administration’s
findings.”
While the fracking debate continues, there is no question the
economy for many communities in Upstate New York is in bad shape.
Binghamton is the largest city in the Southern Tier and jobs are
hard to come by.
Between 1990 and 2011, the metropolitan area suffered a net loss of
more than 10,000 jobs and a recent analysis showed the manufacturing
sector has been hit hardest, seeing a drop of 12.6 percent despite
$303 million in economic development dollars coming to the Southern
Tier through the Regional Economic Development Council program since
2011.
Broome County is in negative territory for job growth and ranks
below the national average for future job prospects, per capita
income, household income and median family income. At the same time,
the county is above the U.S. average for sales taxes and income
taxes.
“I think the best description is an economic death spiral,” Price
said. “These problems we have just don’t go away.”
The Cuomo administration says it feels the Southern Tier’s pain and
has allocated $50 million in new investments that include bolstering
the wood products and agricultural industries and $20 million for
renewable energy procurement in solar manufacturing and wind farms.
“Renewables are going to have the greatest return in the future and
are going to be the most economic,” Downs told Watchdog.org. “But I
also think that there is tremendous advantage to reinvesting in New
York’s agricultural infrastructure. We are rapidly becoming the
country’s yogurt epicenter.”
Economic development officials in the Southern Tier are putting
together their own proposal to take part in what amounts to a
sweepstakes the state has put together: A $1.5 billion economic
development prize that will be split among three upstate regions,
with the winners receiving $500 million each.
The Cuomo administration has pushed back against criticism from some
lawmakers who have dubbed the region vs. region competition “Cuomo’s
Hunger Games.”
Looking longer term, the Southern Tier Regional Economic Development
Council is working on a strategic economic plan.
The council is passing on trying to revive the manufacturing base.
Instead, the council says it’s concentrating on developing research,
energy and pharmaceuticals around Binghamton University research as
well as a planned pharmacy school for the university in nearby
Johnson City.
“I’m optimistic and I feel in my position that I have to stay that
way,” Price said. “But I can tell you it’s a big concern when I talk
to small business owners that are scared that they can stay in
business.”
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