Celebrities including Yoko Ono and Lady Gaga are supporting a grass-roots campaign saying no to Fracking in New York...

The celebrity supporters are backing a collection of organisations against Fracking – the term for a technology used by the oil and gas industry to capture natural gas from the ground that was previously inaccessible.

The growing anti-Fracking movement in New York is calling on Governor Cuomo to maintain a ban on Fracking in the state due to health and environmental concerns about the procedure.

The opponents of the Fracking are concerned that the procedure could lead to contamination of rivers and other water supplies above and below ground...

The movement is in response to fears that a halt on Fracking in the state could be rescinded...

In May a concert and rally featuring Mark Ruffalo and Natalie Merchant and other New York State performers called on Governor Cuomo to ban the controversial natural gas drilling process across New York State.

The concert was organised by New Yorkers Against Fracking, a coalition of grass-roots organisations against hydrofracking in New York State.

Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs fame said: "I'm terrified of what may happen to my home state if hydraulic fracturing begins..."

Founding members of New Yorkers Against Fracking include organisations such as Citizen Action of New York, New York State Breast Cancer Network, Food and Water Watch, Frack Action and others...

The movement is also being supported by a 130 plus strong anti-Fracking group launched this month by Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, Artists Against Fracking, that includes music groups such as The Strokes, The Flaming Lips, Beastie Boys, Scissor Sisters, MGMT, The B-52s, Wilco, and the Patti Smith Group as its members.

Uma Thurman, David Byrne, Julianne Moore, Carrie Fisher, Alec Baldwin, Gwyneth Paltrow, Liv Tyler, Ringo Starr, Salman Rushdie and Susan Sarandon are some of the other backers of the artists movement against the underground drilling technique which involves pumping water, chemicals and sand to create fissures to access the gas...

While supporters of the oil and gas industry have questioned the credibility of the anti-Fracking campaign and have held a counter demonstration in the state, celebrating employment benefits... the anti-Fracking campaigners are growing in numbers and are urging greater investment in sustainable energy solutions as an alternative to Fracking...