What Happened?
New York State’s top court ruled in favor of towns using zoning ordinances to ban hydraulic fracturing, or drilling for natural gas. The ruling was made in response to amended zoning laws in a few New York towns that prohibited fracking in an effort to protect the community from health and environmental repercussions from the drilling process.
The Goal
After Dryden and Middlefield, New York, changed their zoning laws in 2011 to prohibit fracking, an energy company that had leases in the towns specifically for natural gas drilling filed legal complaints. The New York State Court of Appeals affirmed a lower-court ruling that found towns have the authority to use zoning regulations to ban fracking, The New York Times reported.
The ruling should open up doors for many other municipalities in New York looking to ward off energy companies signing agreements to engage in hydraulic fracturing to utilize zoning law changes to ban fracking. While fracking may bring new business to New York State, the environmental hazards of the practice seem to outweigh the monetary gains.
New Jersey Push
New York is not the only state looking to ward off the negative consequences of hydraulic fracturing. New Jersey lawmakers recently sent a bill to Governor Christie that would ban the dumping of fracking waste within the state. The legislation prohibits energy companies from treating, discharging, disposing and storing hydraulic fracturing waste within New Jersey.
The state Senate passed the bill in May with strong support from environmentalists and lawmakers. Not only does the legislation prohibit the dumping of fracking waste, but creates safeguards against new fracking practices and prevents fracking wastewater to be used on roads.
Is Fracking Bad?
With hydraulic fracturing, water and chemicals are mixed together and injected into the ground to break up shale deposits and free up natural gas. The chemicals used in fracking are feared to enter groundwater sources and contaminate local resources, harm the environment and place residents’ health at risk.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is conducting a study to identify all potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing to determine if regulations should be heightened to protect public health. According to the study’s progress report released in December 2012, the EPA is looking at five fundamental questions associated with the hydraulic fracturing water cycle:
- What are the possible impacts of large volume water withdrawals from ground and surface waters on drinking water resources?
- What are the possible impacts of surface spills on or near well pads of hydraulic fracturing fluids on drinking water resources?
- What are the possible impacts of the injection and fracturing process on drinking water resources?
- What are the possible impacts of surface spills on or near well pads of flowback and produced water on drinking water resources?
- What are the possible impacts of inadequate treatment of hydraulic fracturing wastewaters on drinking water resources?
The EPA is analyzing existing data, conducting laboratory studies, evaluating scenarios, assessing toxicology reports and reviewing case studies to determine the impact of hydraulic fracturing. The results of the far-reaching study are up for public review and comment later this year.
Zoning Perks
Gov1 has reported on a variety of zoning projects that boost economic activity and reduce crime rates.