Hawkins To Tour Pennsylvania Fracking Sites

Bob Joseph/WNBF News [July 9, 2014][/caption]The Green Party candidate for New York governor plans to visit fracking sites in Pennsylvania.

Howie Hawkins intends to tour parts of Susquehanna County on Thursday to see areas where high-volume hydraulic fracturing is being used to obtain natural gas.

Speaking on WNBF Radio's Binghamton Now program Wednesday, Hawkins said he'll visit northern Pennsylvania with anti-fracking activists.

Hawkins will get a first-hand look at properties where energy companies have employed fracking in recent years.

The Syracuse resident said he's seen fracking sites from a distance as he traveled on Interstate 81. Hawkins said he "thought a spaceship had landed" as he witnessed the nighttime scene of gas being flared from a well. He said the "whole sky was lit up" by the flaring process.

Hawkins opposes efforts to allow fracking in New York state. He said he supports a program that would develop "clean energy" technology.

Hawkins said he'll be joined in the Susquehanna County tour by former Binghamton mayor Matthew Ryan, an outspoken fracking opponent.