Fracking ban upheld in Dryden
ALBANY – A mid-level state appeals court ruled last week that New York State municipalities can use their local zoning laws to ban hydraulic fracturing.
Hydraulic fracturing is a process which involves pumping highly pressurized water and chemical additives into underground shale formations, allowing for the harvest of hard to reach deposits of methane gas.
Thursday’s ruling involved a court case between Norse Energy Corporation USA, as the appellant, and the Town of Dryden, as the respondent.
The court decision involved interpretation of state law that says regulation of the oil and gas industry rests solely with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Norse lawyer Thomas West had argued that the law is intended to prevent waste of oil and gas and protect the mineral rights of multiple landowners.
“When a municipality says you can’t drill here, you have the ultimate waste of the resource and destruction of the correlative rights of the landowners,” he said during oral arguments in March.
But the court ruled the law doesn’t pre-empt a municipality’s power to enact zoning laws that would ban gas drilling. Instead, the four-judge appellate division panel ruled unanimously in favor of the Town of Dryden, stating that state mining and drilling law does not take precedence over the authority of local governments to control land use.
In two separate rulings, hydraulic fracturing bans in Middlefield, in Otsego County, and in Avon, Livingston County, have also been upheld.
Both attorneys representing the parties challenging the bans in Dryden and Middlefield have stated their intention to appeal the rulings to a higher court.
The Village of Oxford is currently the only municipality in Chenango County with a zoning ordinance banning the practice of hydraulic fracturing within it’s borders.
“The Oxford Visionaries are encouraged by the long anticipated and unanimous decision by the New York Appeals Court to permit local governments to enact zoning laws to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, within their borders,” said Oxford Visionaries member Richard Lacey. “The Oxford Town Board can no longer ignore more than 1,000 citizens who want them to void the pro-gas zoning law they enacted illegally in 2007.”
The group, which claims to represent more than 1,000 of the town’s citizens, is currently lobbying for the nullification of a Town of Oxford ordinance potentially permitting hydraulic fracturing within it’s boundaries.
Currently, a five-year moratorium banning the controversial practice in New York State is in place.
Hydraulic fracturing is a process which involves pumping highly pressurized water and chemical additives into underground shale formations, allowing for the harvest of hard to reach deposits of methane gas.
Thursday’s ruling involved a court case between Norse Energy Corporation USA, as the appellant, and the Town of Dryden, as the respondent.
The court decision involved interpretation of state law that says regulation of the oil and gas industry rests solely with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Norse lawyer Thomas West had argued that the law is intended to prevent waste of oil and gas and protect the mineral rights of multiple landowners.
“When a municipality says you can’t drill here, you have the ultimate waste of the resource and destruction of the correlative rights of the landowners,” he said during oral arguments in March.
But the court ruled the law doesn’t pre-empt a municipality’s power to enact zoning laws that would ban gas drilling. Instead, the four-judge appellate division panel ruled unanimously in favor of the Town of Dryden, stating that state mining and drilling law does not take precedence over the authority of local governments to control land use.
In two separate rulings, hydraulic fracturing bans in Middlefield, in Otsego County, and in Avon, Livingston County, have also been upheld.
Both attorneys representing the parties challenging the bans in Dryden and Middlefield have stated their intention to appeal the rulings to a higher court.
The Village of Oxford is currently the only municipality in Chenango County with a zoning ordinance banning the practice of hydraulic fracturing within it’s borders.
“The Oxford Visionaries are encouraged by the long anticipated and unanimous decision by the New York Appeals Court to permit local governments to enact zoning laws to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, within their borders,” said Oxford Visionaries member Richard Lacey. “The Oxford Town Board can no longer ignore more than 1,000 citizens who want them to void the pro-gas zoning law they enacted illegally in 2007.”
The group, which claims to represent more than 1,000 of the town’s citizens, is currently lobbying for the nullification of a Town of Oxford ordinance potentially permitting hydraulic fracturing within it’s boundaries.
Currently, a five-year moratorium banning the controversial practice in New York State is in place.
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