Dansville, NY (WIBX) - One of four public hearings on Hydrofracking in upstate New York is taking place in Dansville today. The Department of Environmental Conservation is accepting comments on its revised draft environmental impact statement and draft regulations, starting this afternoon at 1:00 p.m.

Robert Sullivan is a Broome County business and land owner in favor of Hydrofracking. He says it boils down to one major issue. "Jobs, jobs and more jobs, I mean that's what New York lacks right now. I mean, jobs are it, that's why people are leaving, that's why families are no longer together here," he said.

He says the state has natural resources ready to be extracted from the Marcellus Shale and other gas reservoirs, and if done safely, the process will improve the economy. He said, "You know, Broome County is over the sweet spot. They're not reaching to get some benefit from it, they are over the sweet spot. There's a major, major volume underneath us, and it should be done safely. The state spend years looking at it. They're spending a lot of research on it to figure out how to do it safely."

The comment period ends on December 12th, and DEC officials say no Hydrofracking permits will be issued until their impact statement is finalized.

According to officials, various New York Academics, Landowners, Business Owners, and Scientists from throughout the state will be available to discuss natural gas production in New York and the impacts of the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, (SGEIS) and its proposed regulations, including, Dr. Bruce Selleck, Geologist/Provost and President of Faculty, Colgate University

Kris Perrit, Environmental Resources Management (available Thursday and Friday), Bob Sullivan, Broome County business owner and landowner, Thomas Johnson, Hydrogeologist at Alphageoscience, and Scott Cline, PHD, Petroleum Engineer for the US Treasury.

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