Opponents of hydrofracking have been vocal about their position on the issue. Now, some groups in Cortland County are proving public opinion is on their side. Our Kat De Maria shares the results of a new poll and discusses its potential role in the gas drilling debate.

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CORTLAND, N.Y. -- For the record, there will be no more opinions for or against hydraulic fracturing in New York.

The latest round of public comment on the issue has closed. The rallies, at least for now, have ended. But the advocacy continues. And for hydrofracking opponents in Cortland County, that involves new, but simple, data: A poll.

"We felt we are not protected from the excesses of the gas industry, that the federal government has been taken off the job and the state has an inadequate set of guidelines and regulations. So we felt our only hope was to try to find out what local people are thinking," said Bob Applegate, a member of Gas Drilling Awareness of Cortland County, or GDACC.

"We heard individually a lot of conversation. But we wanted facts to go along with that," said Janet Adair Hansen, pastor of Christ Community Church and a member of Moving in Congregations Acting in Hope, or MICAH.

Representatives with GDACC and MICAH gathered Thursday to release the results of their poll: Surveying 500 adults over the phone last month. On the question of support for hydraulic fracturing, only 33 percent of respondents said they do, while 58 percent said they do not.

"We were pleased to see a lot of people were concerned about it. It means we can have an informed debate about it and hopefully make some decisions that will help all of us," Applegate said.

There is a lot at stake in Cortland. The most recent map available from the county planning office shows more than half of it leased as of August 2010.

While everyone waits for the decision of the state DEC, Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, who was there to hear the poll results, says she is continuing to push home rule, the right of municipalities to pass bans on heavy industry.

Another poll question revealed 54 percent of people favor towns enact zoning ordinances to restrict hydrofracking, while 33 percent do not.

Lifton's home rule legislation has passed in the Assembly, but does not have a counterpart in the Senate. Meanwhile, lawsuits in the Village of Dryden and the Town of Middlefield may decide the issue through the courts.

"It's going forward on multiple tracks. It makes it rather uncertain what's going to happen how and when," Lifton said.

What is certain is hydrofracking may very well be the issue that defines New York over the coming year, for the record and for the future.

New York's DEC commissioner has said his office has received tens of thousands of comments regarding hydrofracking. And he says he will consider and respond to all of them as the DEC finalizes its drilling standards.