CONKLIN, N.Y. — Plenty of people leave New York state, but in a job-hungry stretch of upstate, folks talk about staying put and seceding to Pennsylvania.

Local officials stung by a decision to ban natural gas fracking have raised the idea of redrawing the Keystone State’s border. Even though they don’t expect it to happen, members of the Upstate New York Towns Association hope the specter of secession will result in something – anything – good for a struggling part of the state peering enviously over the state line.

“It’s not like we’re looking across the border into Mexico or even looking across the border at Canada,” said Candor supervisor Bob Riggs, whose rural town is one of about 15 in the association.

The Southern Tier sits atop the same gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation that has allowed Pennsylvania and other states to ride the fracking boom. In December, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration said it planned to ban fracturing.

A poll this year found statewide support for Cuomo’s decision, but many in this economically struggling area saw it as another instance of New York City’s liberal desires trumping upstate needs. Adding salt to the wound: New York state rejected two Southern Tier casino applicants the same day.

Town of Conklin Supervisor Jim Finch said he mentioned secession jokingly the day the fracking ban was announced. But he said a recent constituent survey sent out by state Sen. Thomas Libous that included a question about seceding to Pennsylvania “popped the question right to the top.”

Finch concedes that a redrawing of the state line will not happen. But a message has been sent.

“Now because we’re saying ‘Hey what about the Southern Tier? You stuck it to us on the gas drilling, you stuck it to us on the casinos,’ maybe this will bring it to the light,” he said.

Secession would be a complex procedure involving two states and the federal government. Still, such talk resonates here.

“Anything upstate, they don’t do a thing for us,” said George Leatso, adding that his 82 acres in Conklin could earn him royalty payments from gas companies, if drilling were allowed.