Hawke's Bay Regional Council says that it has taken on board public concerns about the technique of hydraulic fracturing being used in the region by oil drillers.
On Thursday submitters to the council's draft 10 year plan told councillors that injecting water and chemicals at high pressure into the ground - a technique which the industry says can improve oil or gas flows - poses environmental and health risks.
Council chairman Fenton Wilson says councillors acknowledge that the technique, commonly known as fracking, does pose a risk.
He says the submitters' concern has been referred to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, who is carrying out an official investigation into fracking.
