Natural gas firm sues NY town over drilling ban
ITHACA – A Denver-based natural-gas company has sued the town of Dryden in central New York in an effort to strike down a recent zoning law prohibiting gas drilling there.
Thomas West, an Albany attorney for the drilling company, Anschutz Exploration, says the lawsuit was filed Friday, Sept. 16 in state court in Ithaca.
More than a dozen municipalities in New York have enacted natural gas-drilling bans or restrictions amid controversy over hydraulic fracturing. The state is moving closer to deciding whether to allow that method to tap vast gas reservoirs once thought to be unreachable in the multi-state Marcellus Shale formation.
Anschutz contends New York amended its environmental conservation law in 1981 giving the state power to regulate the oil-and-gas industry while confining local governments to regulations involving the industry's use of roads.
No towns in Chenango County have enacted legal bans or restrictions on the high water volume drilling method.
However, the Afton Town Board is debating a road use law that would restrict the truck traffic anticipated from hauling water and fracturing fluids to and from drilling sites. Data contained within the Aug. 2011 draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement for early well pad development estimates between 1,148 one way heavy truck trips can be expected per well. Pipelines may be used for some water transport during peak well pad development, during which time one-way heavy truck traffic could be 625 trips.
Once permitting begins, the DEC estimates it will receive an average of 1,600 drilling permits per year with as many as 2,500 requests coming at peak years.
Chenango County, itself, is drafting similar regulations for county road usage. A handful of other towns have road use and/or bonding agreements in place that regulate both seismic testing and truck traffic.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Thomas West, an Albany attorney for the drilling company, Anschutz Exploration, says the lawsuit was filed Friday, Sept. 16 in state court in Ithaca.
More than a dozen municipalities in New York have enacted natural gas-drilling bans or restrictions amid controversy over hydraulic fracturing. The state is moving closer to deciding whether to allow that method to tap vast gas reservoirs once thought to be unreachable in the multi-state Marcellus Shale formation.
Anschutz contends New York amended its environmental conservation law in 1981 giving the state power to regulate the oil-and-gas industry while confining local governments to regulations involving the industry's use of roads.
No towns in Chenango County have enacted legal bans or restrictions on the high water volume drilling method.
However, the Afton Town Board is debating a road use law that would restrict the truck traffic anticipated from hauling water and fracturing fluids to and from drilling sites. Data contained within the Aug. 2011 draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement for early well pad development estimates between 1,148 one way heavy truck trips can be expected per well. Pipelines may be used for some water transport during peak well pad development, during which time one-way heavy truck traffic could be 625 trips.
Once permitting begins, the DEC estimates it will receive an average of 1,600 drilling permits per year with as many as 2,500 requests coming at peak years.
Chenango County, itself, is drafting similar regulations for county road usage. A handful of other towns have road use and/or bonding agreements in place that regulate both seismic testing and truck traffic.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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