OXFORD – A Town of Oxford Board meeting held Wednesday night found 14 out of 34 attendees addressing the board with concerns either in favor of – or in opposition to – high-volume hydraulic fracturing within the town limits.

High-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the controversial practice of injecting chemically treated water, sand, and lubricants into wells drilled into the earth’s crust, lined with metal piping and concrete and extending down thousands of feet below the surface. The highly pressurized fluid creates fissures in rock formations deep underground, which are then held open with sand allowing natural gas nestled within the rock formation to be harvested. While some assert that the process can be safely performed and will yield an abundance of wealth for Chenango County, others insist fracking will prove harmful to the environment and contaminate the county’s water supply.

During last night’s meeting, eight Oxford residents voiced their opposition to the advent of fracking within the town limits, while one individual addressed what he felt were inadequacies in the town’s regulations which may govern the practice. Five others spoke in favor of fracking.