Organizers fear state legislators will break for the summer and leave the moratorium on the table.
Syracuse, NY -- Chanting "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Hydrofracking has got to go," 40 people marched around the State Office Building in Syracuse this morning to push for a moratorium on hydrofracking pending the outcome of a federal study.
Organizers fear state legislators will break for the summer and leave the moratorium legislation on the table, said Dereth Glance, executive program director with Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
Natural gas prices are at their lowest "there's no need to rush to drill," she said.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency is doing a study of hydrofracking and is expected to release its outcome in two years, Glance said. Any decision on hydrofracking should be based on solid science, she said.
"We don't want to clean up another Gulf mess," Glance said.
Gas producers blast water and chemicals deep into the earth to break up layers of rock and release natural gas deposits in a practice called hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking.
Opponents say the chemicals used pollute wells used for drinking water, and that there have been well blowouts similar to the Deep Water Horizon oil well blowout that is sending millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Some 25,000 people have signed petitions urging the state to enact a moratorium, Glance said.
Over the last two weeks members of Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation have collected 200 postcards calling for a moratorium, said community organizer Lindsay Speer.
The organization planned to deliver those cards to state Senators David J. Valesky, D-Oneida, and John A. DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, following the rally.
Hydrofracking opponents carrying signs gathered in front of the state office building at about 11 a.m.
Carrying signs that said "No Fracking Way, State Wide Ban or Don't Frack With Our Water," the group marched around the building chanting "Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Hydrofracking has got to go."