Wednesday, February 22

New York Town’s Ban on Gas Fracking Upheld by State Court Judge

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- A New York state judge, in the first test of local laws to block hydraulic fracturing, upheld the Town of Dryden’s bid to bar drilling for natural gas.

State Supreme Court Judge Phillip Rumsey in a ruling released today said the town’s zoning amendment on gas drilling wasn’t pre-empted by state law, according to Mahlon Perkins, attorney for Dryden. Denver-based Anschutz Exploration Corp. sued the town in September, seeking to overturn the ordinance, which bans gas and oil exploration in the town about 200 miles (322 kilometers) northwest of Manhattan.

New York placed a moratorium on the drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing in 2010 while state regulators developed environmental rules. Since then, about 20 towns in the state have adopted laws to ban drilling, Karen Edelstein, a geographic information-systems consultant in Ithaca, said.


Bloomberg Business Week

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