Editor,

A recent survey of Hamilton and Lebanon, NY residents conducted by the Colgate University Upstate Institute in cooperation with Madison County Citizens for Safe Energy found that almost 70% of them trusted the gas industry not at all, half expected quality to life to get worse, 53% expected property values will decrease, 60% expected quality of drinking water will get worse, 68% expected that the natural environment will get worse, 52% are not optimistic about the future with natural gas development, 56% do not believe that the negative impacts of natural gas can be fixed, 56% agree that gas development will create long-term environmental problems, 61% disagree that any gas development benefits outweigh any costs. Only 34% believe that natural gas development should be encouraged.

In June of this year a Pulse Opinion Research Poll of Chenango County residents found that a majority of 48% to 38% want their towns to support local moratoriums or bans. Another June poll by Public Policy Polling found that 56% to 42% opposed Cuomo’s plan to frack the southern tier first and 49% to 36% favored local moratoriums or bans and 57% were very concerned about fracking in Chenango County.