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I (Don't) Love NY: Upstate towns banned from fracking consider swapping states to Pennsylvania

Associated Press
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In this Monday, Feb. 23, 2015 photo, Supervisor Jim Finch poses at Conklin Town Hall in Conklin, N.Y. Some Southern Tier towns are raising the question of seceding to Pennsylvania. Finch and other local officials talking about expanding Pennsylvania’s border to gobble up some towns clustered around the Keystone State’s northeast corner don’t really expect it to happen. But members of the Upstate New York Towns Association hope the headline-grabbing idea will result in something good for a struggling part of the state. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (The Associated Press)

In this Monday, Feb. 23, 2015 photo, Supervisor Jim Finch poses at Conklin Town Hall in Conklin, N.Y. Some Southern Tier towns are raising the question of seceding to Pennsylvania. Finch and other local officials talking about expanding Pennsylvania’s border to gobble up some towns clustered around the Keystone State’s northeast corner don’t really expect it to happen. But members of the Upstate New York Towns Association hope the headline-grabbing idea will result in something good for a struggling part of the state. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (The Associated Press)

In this Monday, Feb. 23, 2015 photo, a customer leaves Conklin Reliable Market in Conklin, N.Y. Some Southern Tier towns are raising the question of seceding to Pennsylvania. Conklin Supervisor Jim Finch and other local officials talking about expanding Pennsylvania’s border to gobble up some towns clustered around the Keystone State’s northeast corner don’t really expect it to happen. But members of the Upstate New York Towns Association hope the headline-grabbing idea will result in something good for a struggling part of the state. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (The Associated Press)

Some towns in New York's Southern Tier are raising the idea of seceding to Pennsylvania.

Conklin Supervisor Jim Finch and other local officials talking about redrawing the Keystone State's border don't really expect it to happen. But members of the Upstate New York Towns Association hope the idea will result in something good for a struggling part of the state.

New York's Southern Tier sits atop the same gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation that has allowed Pennsylvania and other states to ride the fracking boom. In December, the Cuomo administration said it planned to ban hydraulic fracturing based on potential health risks from the drilling practice and overstated economic benefits.

Many in the Southern Tier saw it as another instance of New York City's liberal desires trumping upstate needs.