Appellate Division Upholds Right of New York Municipalities to Regulate Fracking through Zoning Ordinances

| 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 [...]

Extension of New York State Fracking Moratorium Passes State Assembly, But its Ultimate Fate is Unclear

| March 25, 2013

On March 7, 2013, the New York State Assembly passed legislation to extend the moratorium in place on high pressure horizontal hydraulic fracturing – hydrofracking or fracking – of shale that has been in place since 2008. Though the bill, Assembly Bill 5424-A, passed the Assembly by a wide margin of 95 to 40, the [...]

Destruction of Oil Spill Investigation Data Ruled Not Sufficiently Prejudicial to Warrant the Dismissal of a Cost Recovery Action Under Navigation Law § 12

| March 7, 2013

Does the destruction of plaintiff’s technical data supporting disclosed oil spill investigation reports get a defendant off the hook?  Apparently not, decided the Appellate Division (Third Dept.) in a November 2012 decision, rejecting a defense motion to reverse a plaintiff’s trial verdict. Defendants had received the reports themselves, without the backup technical data, but had [...]

Deadline for Statewide Fracking Regulations Extended

| January 31, 2013

On November 29, 2012, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation missed its deadline under state law to finalize regulations for hydrofracking in New York. However, shortly before the deadline, it filed a Notice of Continuation with the Department of State to secure a 90 day extension for the rulemaking process. During this 90 day [...]

EPA to Defend its “Proposed Plan” for Remediating the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site During Public Meetings on January 23 and 24, 2013

| January 21, 2013

How do you clean up something as big and messy as the Gowanus Canal? On January 23-24, 2013,  the United States Environmental Protection Agency will explain and defend its December 27, 2012, “Proposed Plan” for remediating the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site in Brooklyn, NY. The Proposed Plan formally identifies EPA’s “preferred remedy” for the pollution [...]

Proposed Revisions to SEQRA Regulations Currently Under Review

| January 2, 2013

During the summer of 2012, the DEC proposed its first substantive amendments to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) regulations since 1996. The DEC has explained that the amendments are meant to streamline the review process “without sacrificing meaningful review,” but the potential impact of the proposed amendments appears to be somewhat mixed. The proposed amendments center [...]

DEC “Incidental Take” Permit Regulations Survive Challenge

| November 21, 2012

On July 26, 2012 the Appellate Division, Third Department affirmed the dismissal of a challenge to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s recently amended endangered species regulations. The regulations, contained in 6 NYCRR Part 182, included a requirement for a party contemplating development to obtain a DEC permit if that activity is likely [...]

“Fracking NY” Blog Series: Update – DEC Extends Public Comment Period

| December 2, 2011

On December 1, 2011, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) announced that it is extending the public comment period on its environmental impact study of high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”   The public comment period has been extended to January 11, 2012. 

“Fracking NY” Blog Series: Part 3 – Summary of DEC’s 2011 Draft Regulations

| November 21, 2011

In our first two posts (here and here) in the Fracking NY Blog Series, we considered the general background of fracking in the Marcellus Shale region of New York and the 2011 Revised Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Study (“Revised Draft SGEIS”) prepared by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) which studied the [...]

“Fracking NY” Blog Series: Part 2 – Summary of DEC’s 2011 Revised Draft SGEIS

| November 15, 2011

As mentioned in our last NY Fracking Series post, hydraulic fracturing as a method of extracting natural gas is nothing new in New York State.  But the type of high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” now being considered for the Marcellus Shale formation in New York is new.  That’s why it has triggered a revision [...]