Posted February 3, 2014
A group of New York landowners say they will sue the
state if officials fail to release a timeline for making a decision on
hydrofracking, according to Terry Weaver of Syracuse.com here. The demand letter is available here.
Dan Fitzsimons, president of the Joint Landowners
Coalition of New York, said the group will file a lawsuit on February 14,
hoping to force the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to complete
its environmental review, Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement
(SGEIS), of fracking.
The group’s lawsuit will be an “Article 78” proceeding,
challenging an act by a state agency or entity on an expedited basis. The group may later argue that the state’s
“de facto moratorium on large-scale fracking” is an unconstitutional taking.
The DEC Commissioner, Joseph Martens, said his agency
is “extremely unlikely” to issue any high-volume fracking permits before April
2015.
The city of Binghamton recently dropped an appeal of a
decision striking down the moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the city,
according to an article by the Star Gazette available here.
New Mayor, Rich David, said he wanted to declare his
opposition to the city’s attempt to ban hydrofracking. David said, “To ban an action that has not
even been approved in New York was premature.”
A recent report from the Congressional Research Service
on fracking is available here. CRS reports are available as a free service
on the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
