AFTON – An independent poll commissioned by the Chenango-Delaware-Otsego Gas Drilling Opposition Group shows Chenango County evenly split on whether they support or oppose natural gas extraction by means of hydraulic fracturing.

Mike Bernhard, a spokesman for the CDOG group in Afton, said in a statement that Pulse Opinion Research of Arlington, Texas, surveyed 1,356 voters in Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Steuben and Tioga counties in mid-June. Of the 350 Chenango County citizens questioned, 47 percent supported and 47 percent opposed the following: “Do you support or oppose natural gas extraction by means of hydraulic fracking in your town?” The poll has a 2.66 percent margin of error, plus or minus.

Forty-eight percent of those surveyed in the five counties support local zoning ordinances to restrict the industry, with 38 percent responding that they oppose them, and 14 percent were unsure.

Complete results of the poll are available at un-naturalgas.org/PPPFIVE.pd.