More than a dozen towns in a struggling rural area of New York state want to secede and become part of Pennsylvania so they can legally drill for natural gas.
The 15 towns in New York's Southern Tier bordering Pennsylvania – an area that sits atop a natural gas-rich shale formation – are angry Gov. Andrew Cuomo has banned
hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, over public health concerns,
WBNG-TV reports.
"The Southern Tier is desolate," Conklin Town Supervisor Jim Finch told the station. "We have no jobs and no income for anybody. And the richest resource we have is in the ground."
Fracking involves injecting water, sand and chemicals deep underground to break up shale formations.
For towns to leave the state would require approval of lawmakers in both New York and Pennsylvania, and most likely need Congress to weigh in as well,
The Washington Post reports.
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