The fate of fracking in New York State rests in a decision soon to be made by the state’s Court of Appeals — one that will determine whether local governments have the authority to ban hydraulic fracturing within city and township limits.
The decision will not only be paramount for New York, but for the entire country, as the state is unique throughout the nation for having put up what has so far been an effective fight against the fracking industry.
Along with township and city bans throughout New York, the state is also subject to a moratorium, the only of its kind in the United States.
For those monitoring the nationwide fracking scene, New York activists are winning — at least for now.
The Court of Appeals decision comes down to one of the many New York communities that has banned fracking. According to FracTracker, more than 160 New York communities have bans and moratoriums in place. Front and center is Dryden, population 14,500.
In 2011, the small community passed a zoning ordinance that banned hydraulic fracturing, prompting the lawsuit that now awaits decision in New York’s highest court. The ban passed unanimously by the town board, drawing approval across the political spectrum.
The lawsuit has so far fallen in Dryden’s favor. In May, a state appellate division court gave Dryden residents a boost, ruling the community did have the authority to issue the ban.
The Court of Appeals ruling will either give credence to Dryden and the thousands of New York citizens fighting for their land, or will send a message to the oil and gas industry that New York is open for business.
“It’s going to decide the future of the oil and gas industry in the state of New York,” Thomas West, a lawyer for Norse Energy Corporation USA, which is attempting to overturn the bans, told the New York Times.
The fight for Dryden
The lawsuit launched against the small community was filed by Anschutz Exploration Corporation, a company under the umbrella of Phillip Anschutz, who has an estimated net worth of $7.5 billion.
According to environmental organization EarthJustice, the success of Dryden’s grassroots fight against the oil and gas industry belongs to its rural residents.
When swathes of land were being bought up by the industry all around them, area residents came together in 2009 to form a community advocacy organization that could stand up to save their town.
It was that year that the Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition was created.
From there, members took to the streets, gathering petitions, informing their neighbors, holding public information sessions and lobbying their local board. When the town board vote was issued in 2011, it was clear where the community stood.
The community opposition to the fracking industry wasn’t abstract or ideological — instead, it had to do with real concerns over an industry that threatened to impact their daily lives.
Sitting atop the Marcellus Shale, the town of Dryden, has the potential to become a hub for the fracking industry. Geologist Gary Lash estimated the shale formation contained more than 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, 10 percent of which could be accessible through fracking.
This would turn residents’ neighborhood from the quiet town it presently is into an epicenter for an industry that doesn’t exactly operate in the shadows.
Fracking well pads, home to fracking wells, run day and night — and they’re not silent. The issue of heavy truck transportation on otherwise quiet, gravel roads was also a concern, as many residents who live in that area do so for its peace and quiet.
And like every other community voicing concern over fracking, there’s a real question over whether groundwater sources will be contaminated.
“The people of Dryden want to preserve the special character of our town and make sure it continues to be a healthy community for generations to come,” Dryden Town Supervisor Mary Ann Sumner told EarthJustice writer Hilary Lambert, who grew up in Dryden. “The oil and gas industry may wish it were otherwise, but municipalities have the right to determine what types of development are appropriate within their borders. We are firmly committed to defending that right.”
A statewide battle
Anti-fracking advocates in New York have turned their grassroots campaign against the industry into something admired by communities throughout the United States.
In the midst of a de facto moratorium, environmentalists and state residents concerned about the impacts of fracking have come together in true grassroots fashion.
“We have Republicans, Democrats, Independents, people from every part of the political spectrum, and people from every part of the state,” John Armstrong, a representative of the New Yorkers Against Fracking coalition, told Mint Press News in June.
In 2010, the state legislature passed a moratorium on fracking, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. David Paterson (D), who implemented a temporary ban on horizontal drilling while an environmental impact review was created. The initial environmental study was expected July 1 of that year. Two drafts later, however, state officials have determined it had fallen short. This has left New York in a unique state of a de facto moratorium ever since.
Ultimately, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has the final say in this battle. With a swipe of the pen, he could unleash the industry onto the state’s Marcellus shale formation — if the Court of Appeals rules against Dryden, it could also open access to now-banned areas.
Yet before Cuomo makes his decision, he’ll have to sign off on the environmental impact statement, which is still in the works. While the final version was expected to be presented to the governor this summer, there’s no recent indication that it will be surfacing anytime soon. The question now is whether it will be complete before Cuomo’s re-election, set for next year.
The possibility of the industry moving into their state has anti-fracking advocates more motivated than ever. A rally held in June drew more than 1,500 residents from across the state to Albany, where they sent Cuomo their message.
New Yorkers have one advantage in their battle against the industry — their neighbors in Pennsylvania set the example they knew they didn’t want to follow. That state, which also sits atop the Marcellus Shale formation, has become a hub for the fracking industry.
Since 2002, more than 5,000 gas wells have been drilled — and according to residents, the consequences haven’t gone unnoticed.
Pennsylvania has been hit with an abundance of health concerns, with area residents living near gas wells complaining of illnesses among both humans and animals. Terry Greenwald, who has been farming in the area for 20 years, discovered his cows giving birth to stillborn calves after a nearby fracking site went up.
“Many of the victims of fracking in Pennsylvania have gone out of their way to tell their stories in New York and show New Yorkers what’s happening,” Armstrong told Mint Press News.
It’s people like Greenwald who have kept New Yorkers in the fight against fracking.