OXFORD – The hydraulic fracturing debate is heating up in the Village of Oxford as trustees settle in tonight at a public hearing on a one-year moratorium on shale gas drilling. The meeting, set to begin at 7:30 p.m., has been moved to the Oxford American Legion to accommodate the anticipated crowd.

The proceedings in this tiny Chenango County locale of 1,450, are significant because if Oxford does enact a moratorium, it would be the only municipality in New York to prohibit drilling where the industrial activity will most likely occur. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Chief, Joseph Martens, has listed Chenango County as one of the Southern Tier counties where the Marcellus Shale would first (because of the formation’s sufficient depth) be developed.

While Oxford was finalizing its plan over the past month, the City of Binghamton’s moratorium on natural gas drilling, imposed in 2011, was struck down following a lawsuit filed by a Vestal-based landowners coalition and five businesses.