(MintPress) – The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) opened a 30-day public comment period this week in what could be the final opportunity for citizens to prevent hydraulic fracturing in New York state. Despite mounting data showing the damaging effects to the human health and the environment, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appears poised to open controversial oil and gas drilling in the Southern Tier of New York.

A growing vocal coalition of more than 200 agriculture, environmental and faith based groups continue to petition elected officials in efforts to prevent the practice. More than 100 towns and cities across New York have already placed local bans on fracking, a clear sign that the grassroots opposition has firmly rejected plans to bring hydraulic fracturing to New York State.

Gov. Cuomo pandering to oil and gas companies

Cuomo, a possible contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, has drawn the ire of the New Yorkers Against Fracking for expressing support publicly for drilling in the Southern Tier, a collection of five counties in the Central and Western regions of the state.

The public has a 30 day window to register comments, favorable or negative of fracking, allowing the DEC to gauge public opinion. In 2011, a public comment period drew more than 60,000 public comments, most of them expressing opposition to fracking.

“We are looking to mobilize comment writing and submit as many comments as possible. We want to keep the pressure on the DEC and Gov. Cuomo because ultimately he has the final say,” said Seth Gladstone, a regional communications manager at Food and Water Watch, during a recent MintPress interview.

“It is unfortunate that he hasn’t opened up the public comment more broadly. We are letting his administration know that first and foremost we are opposed to fracking,” Gladstone added. “No set of rules or boundaries can make this practice safe. The technology and the regulations that are being discussed could not make fracking safe for New York state.”

Health and environmental impact is clear

The negative health and environmental impact of fracking is clearly evident in other parts of the U.S. where hydraulic fracturing is a regular method used to extract natural gas.

Steve Alburty, a resident of Chichester, N.Y. describes the environmental destruction wrought by mass drilling in Williston, N.D. during a recent trip through the state.

“Williston looked like a space station. I have never seen such destruction in my life. There was a refinery set up in the middle of the plains and there was oil everywhere. Oil covered every living and nonliving object for 50 miles. It was truly frightening. It truly brought home to me the environmental cost of oil drilling.”

Alburty, who has not been actively involved in activism to stop fracking in New York state became a firm opponent of fracking after seeing the extensive drilling throughout the Northern plains state.

“I guess the point for me is, fracking was sort of an imaginary thing. I couldn’t wrap my head around it realistically,” added Alburty in a MintPress interview.

North Dakotans remain largely in favor of oil drilling because of the rapid growth of new jobs across the state.

“The people of North Dakota are thrilled because they see jobs. The money is rolling in,” added Alburty. North Dakota enjoys the lowest unemployment rate in the U.S., just 3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of labor statistics, due largely to the fracking boom that has taken place in the past few years.

Despite the overwhelming support for fracking for the economic boost it can give to communities struggling to recover from the 2008 financial crisis, the environmental data tells a different story. “Fracking fluid,” the mixture used in fracking wells, contains more than 500 chemicals, 29 of which are known carcinogens damaging to human health.

This point is confirmed by a scientific investigation published April 2011 by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee On Energy and Commerce, stating:

“The oil and gas service companies used hydraulic fracturing products containing 29 chemicals that are (1) known or possible human carcinogens, (2) regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act for their risks to human health or (3) listed as hazardous air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. These 29 chemicals were components of 652 different products used in hydraulic fracturing.”

The 2005 Clean Air and Water Act currently exempts Halliburton and other companies involved in fracking projects from complying to legal environmental requirements.

Many European countries, including the Czech Republic, Germany and France have already taken steps to place moratoriums or outright bans on fracking. Vermont became the first U.S. state earlier this year to outlaw the practice.

Fracking, a national issue

On a national level, President Obama continues to be avowedly in favor of expanding fracking and natural gas exploration, despite previous campaign promises to “slow the rise of oceans and begin the healing of the planet,” in 2008.

Obama has given approval to gas drilling in Alaska and has shown support for the expansion of the North American Keystone XL pipeline, a project that environmentalist Bill McKibben said could be “game over” in the uphill battle to stop global warming.

The problem is compounded by legislatures in cash strapped states selling public land for fracking and other environmentally damaging projects.

On Wednesday, 18,000 acres of federal land were sold in a public auction in California, opening the possibility of fracking on previously protected public lands. This continues a troubling trend for environmentalists, as an estimated 800,000 acres of public land in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado have already been opened to fracking and oil drilling.