An undeniable trend has emerged in recent months. Courts in various states are upholding local authority to limit natural gas development pursuant to zoning or home rule provisions. Many municipalities in states like Pennsylvania and New York have sought permanent bans or temporary moratoria on hydraulic fracturing. These efforts at the local level are fueled by a combination of political grandstanding and pandering combined with the “not in my backyard,” or NIMBY, syndrome. As to the former, it’s a variation on the old saw about immigration: “I’m in favor of immigration, except for any which happens after I got here.” The mayor of Princeton, N.J., provides a recent example of the NIMBY syndrome. There, the mayor of the town, in which for physical and geological reasons there would never be fracturing, has taken up the battle to “ban fracking” in Princeton. Obviously, the ban is without real meaning given the geology.

To date, there are 79 bans, 99 moratoria and 87 movements for bans or moratoria in New York alone. Industry has fought hard against municipal action on the well-grounded argument that inconsistent regulations will limit their ability to do business within a state by raising costs and making it prohibitively complicated to manage their operations efficiently. With this tide of local favoritism sweeping through state courts, a fundamental question remains: Is this in the best interests of the nation?

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