The Auburn City Council reversed itself Wednesday and voted 3-2 to accept water from gas drilling operations at the city's waste water treatment plant, according to Post-Standard reporter Glenn Coin.

The council had voted last July to stop accepting the water after pressure from members of the Cayuga Anti-Fracking Alliance, who said the plant wasn't equipped to handle drilling water. The city stood to lose about $600,000, the amount officials expected to receive from drillers to process the water.

The resolution adopted by the council this week says the city studied the issue and decided that there had been no damage to the treatment plant or environment when it had accepted well water in the past.

The council said it will only accept waste water from vertical wells, not horizontal wells. That would include wells deep underground that use high-volume horizontal drilling, also known as hydrofracking. The practice, still under review by the state, uses millions of gallons of chemically treated water injected a mile or more below ground to shatter rock and extract gas.

Auburn's two new councilors split their votes, with John Carmando voting to keep the ban in place and Peter Ruzick in favor of lifting it. William Graney, who missed last year's meeting when the ban was put into place, voted to accept the well water.

Before the vote, 27 of 30 speakers urged the council to keep the ban. One speaker noted that the transport and treatment of drilling wastewater at the plant constituted “too much risk" for her and her family.

City Councilor Matthew Smith said the previous council bowed to outside pressure when it enacted the ban even though the city follows state and federal guidelines when handling the water and has not seen any adverse effects at the treatment plant or to the water quality of the Owasco River, where the plant discharges.

The Auburn Citizen reports that Patricia Beer, a member of the local Cayuga Anti-Fracking Alliance, delivered a warning to the council and the treatment plant operators.

“We will promise to be unceasing in following up,” Beer said at the meeting. “You didn’t do your job before, we don’t trust you’ll do it this time. We’ll be watching ever step and reporting to the DEC and EPA in the future.”

A March 4 post on Cayuga Anti-Fracking Alliance's website said, "Don't let Auburn become the toxic gas drilling wastewater capital of New York State," and asked residents to attend Wednesday's meeting and vote "No."

A roundup of news and events from Cayuga County

»

Police: Auburn mom caught on video encouraging teen to beat up another girl

[The Post-Standard]

»

Congratulations Long Point Winery!

[Cayuga Tourism]

»

Former Auburn police officer Hutchings denied pension, back pay

[Auburn Citizen]

»

Area students from K through 12 perform marathon of plays

[The Post-Standard]

Cayuga County resources

» Today's weather forecast

» Today's obituaries

» What's going on? Events calendar for

Cayuga County

|

» Onondaga County reported crimes database

» See all Cayuga County news on syracuse.com

» Police Blotter