BINGHAMTON - A judge threw out the City of Binghamton’s moratorium on natural gas drilling late yesterday following a lawsuit filed by a Vestal-based landowners coalition and five businesses, including the owner of a stone manufacturing plant in Binghamton.

New York Supreme Court Justice Ferris D. Lebous invalidated the local ordinance, ruling that it failed to meet the criteria for a properly enacted moratorium and was based on the conjecture that drilling presents a hazardous crises that must be prevented.

It’s a small victory for hydrofracking advocates in the Southern Tier, said landowner’s rights advocate and New York Joint Landowners Coalition member Victor Furman of Greene. The ruling represents the first time a court has struck down a local law preventing or delaying natural gas drilling New York.

“You cannot stop a business from conducting business based on what ifs, and you can’t put a moratorium on something that the state already has control of,” said Furham.