Allstadt: Evidence Against

Fracking Is Overwhelming

COOPERSTOWN – Lou Allstadt was shopping for shoes about 1:15 when the Governor’s Office phone number popped up on his cell phone.

The news – that Governor Cuomo had decided to ban fracking in New York State – was being delivered by a governor’s aide to the county’s – and one of the state’s – most formidable opponents of the controversial gas-extraction process.

“The evidence was overwhelming,” Allstadt said a few minutes later. “I’ve said that all along. Now, the studies” – peer review, mostly negative – “are piling up at a rate of one a day.”

The Mobil Oil executive vice president, who retired here fulltime four years ago, not only marshalled organizational and lobbying skills to the anti-fracking cause, he helped collect the data that showed it’s unlikely fracking can be done profitably Upstate.

After he, retired oil explorer Chip Northrup, geologist Brian Brock and engineer Jerry Acton reached their conclusion, they took their findings on the road, including testifying before a state Senate committee.

Convinced fracking can’t happen, Allstadt, who is also a Cooperstown village trustee, shifted his sights to banning fracking waste – particularly radioactive liquid being spread on some Upstate roads – from being disposed of in the state.