The New York Court of Appeals has ruled that local governments in New York may ban hyrdofracking and other oil and gas production activities within their municipal boundaries through the adoption of local zoning laws. In two appeals, Matter of Wallach v. Town of Dryden and Cooperstown Holstein v. Town of Middlefield,1 the court found that local governments may do so because the supersession clause in the statewide Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Law (OGSML) does not preempt the home rule authority vested in municipalities to regulate land use.2
As a practical matter, given what appears to be significant local opposition to fracking throughout the state, the court’s decision is likely to doom efforts to expand fracking in New York to any meaningful extent.3 From a land use law perspective, the court’s decision was a resounding reaffirmation of the well-established constitutional and statutory principle of local control over land use; given that it arose in the context of one of the most controversial issues facing New York’s politicians, businesses and citizens today, it very well may be recognized in the future as one of the most important zoning law rulings that the court has issued in many, many years.
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