It was the best of booms, it was the worst of bans.<\/p>\n
Separated by a single state line, two rural communities straddling the New York-Pennsylvania border have been thrust into opposite futures \u2014 one riding a lucrative fracking boom, its Empire State neighbor facing economic rot due to a wall of environmental regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people in Bradford County know we\u2019re helping to power America,\u201d Doug McLinko, an elected commissioner in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, told The Post about the way fracking has transformed the area.<\/p>\n
Homes on opposite sides of the New York-Pennsylvania state line near the Dandy Mini Mart show the contrast between Chemung County, New York, and Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with modest homes on the Wellsburg side and a larger home across the border, Oct. 20, 2026, in Wellsburg, N.Y. Stefano Giovannini<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re stringing our own rural broadband, rather than wait for the state or federal government to do it. We built a brand new state-of-the-art, $20 million 911 center, a new Sheriff\u2019s center, new veterans center and a $4 million historically accurate copper roof on our courthouse,\u201d McLinko bragged.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incredible, what it\u2019s meant to our schools, working families, retired people, you name it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Driving around the town of Towanda in this relatively forgotten part of the Keystone State, The Post observed a standard of living largely absent in most far-flung rural counties across the nation \u2014 old houses with sparkling new paint jobs, new barns, roofs and cars.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a level of prosperity residents of neighboring Chemung County, New York, are completely shut off from, despite sharing the same natural resources, all thanks to New York\u2019s environmental regulations.<\/p>\n
Thirty miles away, Elmira \u2014 once a bustling manufacturing powerhouse \u2014 has been gutted by free trade agreements like NAFTA in the \u201990s and factories fleeing burdensome taxes and regulations, according to Federal Reserve data and wide academic consensus.<\/p>\n
Today the town is mostly known for being home to a notorious maximum security prison<\/a> and as the final resting place of American literary master Mark Twain.<\/p>\n The area was perfectly summed up by Republican governor challenger Bruce Blakeman during an Oct. 13 gubernatorial debate<\/a> where he blasted New York\u2019s fracking ban, telling Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul, \u201cIn Pennsylvania, they\u2019re getting jobs . . . They\u2019re driving brand-new Cadillac Escalades.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the New York side of the border, they\u2019re driving around 25-year-old rusted-out pickup trucks \u2014 because of your policies.\u201d<\/p>\n Towanda, Pennsylvania, boasts some historic buildings which have been well preserved as the town has prospered. Stefano Giovannini<\/p>\n Doug McLinko, vice chairman of the Bradford County Commissioners, poses in Towanda, Pa., Oct. 21, 2026. Stefano Giovannini<\/p>\n The Post observed blocks of abandoned storefronts in the small city\u2019s historic downtown, amid discount stores and general disrepair. Statistics lay bare the gulf between the two towns.<\/p>\n Towanda has a median household income of $61,000 while Elmira is $43,000, according to the US Census Bureau.<\/p>\n The poverty rates are 13% in Bradford County versus 30% in Chemung.<\/p>\n General views show the Southside of Elmira along South Main Street, south of the Chemung River, including several rundown and deteriorating buildings in Elmira, New York, on October 20, 2026. Stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n Deteriorating and run down buildings along South Main Street, south of the Chemung River, in Elmira, N.Y., Oct. 20, 2026. Stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n FBI data reveals Towanda\u2019s violent crime rate at roughly 60% below the national rate while Elmira\u2019s is a shocking 52% above the national average, with property crime there more than double the national rate.<\/p>\n The trend also bleeds into high school graduation rates, which are 15 points higher in the Pennsylvania county, and overdose deaths, which were a tragic 80% above the national average in Chemung County in 2024, according to health department data. Bradford County is in line with national rates.<\/p>\n Both counties sit atop the Marcellus Shale<\/a> \u2014 a vast natural gas reserve spanning several eastern states and the largest natural gas production field in the US, containing hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of natural gas.<\/p>\n It is accessible through hydraulic fracking, which works by injecting high-pressure water, sand and chemicals underground to crack open rock and release the trapped gas.<\/p>\n Before the fracking ban, business had been booming in Chemung County.<\/p>\n The Bradford County Public Safety Center, which houses the county\u2019s emergency management and 911 communications operations, and maps of fracking areas are seen in Towanda, Pa., Oct. 21, 2026. Stefano Giovannini<\/p>\n Rail cars carrying sand used in hydraulic fracturing are seen on tracks near the Hamilton Liberty natural gas-fired power plant outside Towanda in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, Oct. 21, 2026. Stefano Giovannini<\/p>\n \u201cOur mall was packed with people, our sales taxes were through the roof. It was terrific. The influx of people from Texas and Louisiana. You couldn\u2019t get a hotel room. The airplanes were coming and going,\u201d former Chemung County executive Tom Santulli recalled to The Post.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would have reshaped the Southern Tier. I really thought it was going to happen. Even the [New York State Department of Environmental Conservation] was on our side. But New York is a very liberal state and they were very much opposed to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n