Appellate Division Upholds Right of New York Municipalities to Regulate Fracking through Zoning Ordinances
Posted By Matthew Jokajtys on May 16, 2013
Municipalities in New York have received the green light to regulate fracking – even to the point of banning it – through local zoning ordinances. It’s a second consecutive victory for municipalities in the New York courts, and an affirmation of New York’s long history of vesting decision making powers in local governments through Home Rule.
On May 2nd, 2013, the Appellate Division for the New York State Supreme Court Third Judicial Department handed down its ruling in the closely watched case of Norse Energy Corporation v. Town of Dryden et al. As we had previously reported here at the Periconi, LLC Environmental Law Blog, Anshultz Exploration Corp., the predecessor-in-interest to Norse Energy, had appealed a 2012 ruling of the New York State Supreme Court upholding a Dryden, New York zoning ordinance which limited the areas in the town where fracking was permitted (as well as a similar zoning ordinance in Middlefield, New York, which was consolidated with the Dryden case). (more…)