15 N.Y. Towns Consider Seceding to Pennsylvania

By Kara Seymour

New Yorkers in more than a dozen rural towns along the border want to call themselves Pennsylvanians, according to a new study done by a coalition of communities.

The Upstate New York Towns Association says 15 towns in its jurisdiction support seceding to the Keystone State.

The main reason? Fracking.

New York currently has a ban on hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking. Just miles away from some of these towns where the practice is banned, New Yorkers are seeing their Pennsylvania neighbors “prospering” thanks to fracking, PennLive.com reports.

The 15 towns who want to break ties with New York were not named individually by The Upstate New York Towns Association. However, the organization said the towns are located in Broome, Delaware, Tioga and Sullivan counties.

“The Southern Tier is desolate,” Jim Finch, a Republican town supervisor for Conklin, told WBNG Binghamton. “We have no jobs and no income. The richest resource we have is in the ground.”

There are other reasons behind the desire to secede, including lower taxes, WBNG Binghamton reports.

In a statement on its website, The Upstate New York Towns Association said it continues to research the possibility of secession. Research will include a review of surveys and tax comparisons, the association said.

“The Association will decide what action should be taken. Options such as seceding to Pennsylvania, partitioning the state, as well as other options that may come up will be looked at.”

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