Tagged: fracking bans

The town of Vestal, N.Y., near Binghamton, is well-placed for natural gas development.

Just across the border in Pennsylvania the industry is in full swing. Vestal is situated in one of the three counties in New York considered to be in the sweet spot of Marcellus Shale development.

But not everyone is ready to welcome the industry.

In a decision released Friday, acting Supreme Court Justice Donald F. Cerio, Jr. ruled that the Town of Middlefield can ban oil and gas drilling within its borders.

The decision is virtually identical to one from earlier in the week in Tompkins County. In both cases, the judges decided that the state maintains control over "how" drilling can be done while local governments keep control of "where" it can happen.

Clarification: We originally referred to the location of the court where the case was decided as Cortland County. The decision was made by a Cortland County judge, on behalf of Tompkins County, a separate court within the 6th District. 

In a decision released Tuesday, the state Supreme Court in Cortland County upheld the Town of Dryden's ban on drilling.

In his decision, Supreme Court Justice Phillip R. Rumsey says New York's oil and gas law gives the state the authority to decide how, but not where, drilling can be done.

Under this construction, local governments may exercise their powers to regulate land use to determine where within their borders gas drilling may or may not take place, while DEC regulates all technical operational matters on a consistent statewide basis in locations where operations are permitted by local law.

The fate of a ban on hydrofracking in the Town of Dryden hinges on an upcoming election.

Technically, the ban's future rests with the judges that will hear a lawsuit brought against the town by drilling firm Anschutz Exploration. It's likely that the dispute about whether the state's authority to regulate drilling supersedes a town's right to say what goes on in its borders, will take years to sort out in the courts.

But practically speaking, the ban could be overturned by simply rewriting Dryden's zoning law.  And if Republicans sweep an upcoming election, Dryden could be in an odd position.  

That is to say: One of the very first towns to have its hydrofracking ban challenged by a driller, may not actually have a ban anymore.

There's a showdown brewing in Dryden, New York.

Back in August, the town passed a zoning ordinance that banned the practice of hydrofracking for natural gas.  A month later, they were being sued by gas company Anschutz Exploration.

What happens here - who flinches, who wins - will reverberate across the rest of New York state.  And it all hinges on a simple question: 

Can you, or can't you, ban drilling within your own town limits?