OLIVE, N.Y. (AP) - The Town of Olive in the Catskill Mountains is the latest community in New York to ban to natural gas drilling using high-volume hydraulic fracturing.
More than 50 New York communities have enacted so-called fracking bans at the urging of residents who say the potential benefits aren't enough to risk polluting water supplies and endangering public health.
The state already bans the practice in Olive since it is inside the New York City watershed. But town officials told the Times Herald-Record of Middletown that they took the vote Tuesday night because they wanted to take a stand.
New York has had a de facto moratorium on shale gas development since it began an environmental review and regulatory process in 2008 to address the impacts of fracking.