New York Appeals Court Upholds Municipal Bans On Natural Gas Drilling
In two decisions issued on May 2, 2013, a New York State intermediate appellate court held that the New York Oil, Gas, and Solution Mining Law (“OGSML”) does not preempt a municipality’s authority to enact a zoning ordinance to prohibit natural gas drilling within its jurisdiction. The rulings affirmed two trial court decisions which upheld local drilling bans in the upstate New York towns of Dryden and Middlefield. The intermediate appellate court concluded that, although the zoning ordinances at issue would have an “incidental effect” on the natural gas industry, such ordinances were not the type of regulatory provisions the state legislature intended to preempt in the OGSML. The attorneys for the parties challenging the zoning ordinances will reportedly seek appeals to the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.