Last night, City Council voted to extend a Rochester's moratorium on natural gas exploration and extraction for another year.

The resolution says the city extended the moratorium "in order to preserve and protect the public health, safety, and welfare of the residents of and visitors to the City of Rochester from known and suspected dangers from natural gas exploration and extraction, while the effects of such activities in the city can be further studied."

The resolution also says research into gas exploration and extraction in urban areas has been inadequate.

Municipal officials frame these types of moratoriums as practical matters, often citing issues similar to those mentioned above. But the resolutions also have a symbolic function. They show state officials that communities and elected officials are concerned about the effects of widespread drilling. New York State is in the middle of a multi-year review of high-volume hydraulic fracturing as a means to extract natural gas from shale formations.

Council first voted to pass the moratorium last year.

A copy of the moratorium legislation is attached below the jump.

Fracking Moratorium Resolution