YNN
by Web Staff
October 25, 2010

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Two of the lesser known candidates for governor went head-to-head to tackle the issue of hydrofracking. Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins and Libertarian Party candidate Warren Redlich debated the pros and cons at Syracuse's Nottingham High School Monday night.

There is currently a moratorium on hydrofracking while the state comes up with regulations on how the process should work.

Redlich says hydrofracking is the better choice when compared to the other options for obtaining our country's energy needs, while Hawkins says it is too much of a risk to our water supply.

"What I'm afraid of is those regulations will be written in the spring and then it's going to be drill baby drill and what we know from the disaster in the gulf is drill baby drill inevitably means spill baby spill. You know, even if 98 percent of those wells are good, the ones that spill are the ones that are going to cause terrible problems that we can't afford," Hawkins said.

"If all of a sudden we agree, okay, we're all going to cut back on energy consumption 50 percent overnight, may be it wouldn't be necessary, but as long as energy is necessary, from what I can see, even though hydrolic fracturing is not perfect, it's safer and cleaner than the alternatives," said Redlich.

All seven gubernatorial candidates were invited to the debate.