A Chenango County village has voted to ban hydrofracking. The Village of Oxford’s Board of Trustees approved the first hydrofracking ban on record in Chenango County on Wednesday. The zoning ordinance was passed in a four to one vote that bans gas exploration, extraction, and disposal within the village.
The board had originally attempted to vote on the moratorium in December last year, but efforts were put on hold after drilling proponents threatened to sue. This time, the village claimed that zoning laws already prohibited gas drilling.
Owego is the only municipality in Tioga County that currently has a moratorium on gas drilling. There are no such bans currently in Broome County.
