Just a few months ago, we detailed the years-long David and Goliath battle between the small town of Dryden, New York, and Norse Corp., a natural gas company that wanted to frack the gas-rich land underneath the community’s feet.
Fracking, a controversial process that’s booming across America, has a whole range of negative health and environmental impacts.
Citing environmental concerns, Dryden’s officials unanimously banned the fracking within their borders in 2011, despite the fact that Norse had a lease to drill. Naturally, the gas company took Dryden to court (twice!).
But now, in another blow to the gas giant, New York’s top court has upheld Home Rule — a municipality’s legal right to apply its zoning laws to oil and gas wells. Essentially, New York towns and cities have the right to ban fracking.
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In the 5-2 decision, the Court of Appeals upheld the opinion of a lower state court. Judge Victoria Graffeo wrote that the two towns, Dryden and Middlefield (which was also named in the suit), “studied the issue and acted within their home rule powers in determining that gas drilling would permanently alter and adversely affect the deliberately cultivated, small-town character of their communities.”
New York has had a state-wide fracking moratorium since 2008 which oil and gas companies are hoping that Gov. Cuomo will one day end. Dryden was the first town to prohibit it all together, and remarkably, more than 170 other communities in New York followed its lead with similar bans. With this ruling, these towns can stay frack-free even if Cuomo lifts the state moratorium.
“It’s really, really great for the local municipalities who need to defend themselves against these big national and international corporate interests,” New Paltz, New York, supervisor Susan Zimet told the Daily Freeman. (New Paltz banned fracking in November 2012.) “Home rule is about the only power our small communities have in fighting these battles.”
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Deborah Goldberg, an Earthjustice lawyer who argued on behalf of Dryden told the Voice that the decision will have a “huge impact here in New York state and may very well influence similar efforts around the country.”
The anti-fracking movement has spread across state lines, including communities in California, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas and Ohio. Now if only the whole country could get on board.
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Tag: Dryden
Watch How This Little Town Stood Up Against a Gas Giant
Three years ago, the town of Dryden, New York was at the center of a classic David and Goliath tale where concerned locals took on Norse Energy Corp. (a natural gas company that wanted to drill the land underneath the community) and prevailed.
Dryden, a town with a population of only 14,000, was one of the first communities in New York to ban hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — a process that shoots a mixture of water and chemicals into rock formations to release natural gases. The controversial process is driving a drilling boom across America; opponents claim that has devastating impacts, ranging from environmental damage to significant health concerns.
Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest law organization dedicated to environmental issues, released this new short film (below) that takes a look back at this inspirational story, showing galvanized locals picking up phones and going door-to-door — ultimately gathering 1,600 petition signatures (that’s one in 10 people in the town) against fracking. Dryden officials unanimously voted on a ban in August 2011.
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Norse Energy slapped the town with a lawsuit, arguing that under state law, Dryden didn’t have the right to restrict drilling. However, after two rounds of court, it was declared that New York’s mining and drilling law doesn’t trump the authority of local governments to control land use.
Since this decision, more than 170 communities in New York have joined Dryden and passed similar bans or moratoriums on fracking. The movement has spread across state lines and now includes communities in California, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas and Ohio.
As Marie McRae, one of the Dryden locals spurred to action, says in the film, “My voice by itself carries very little weight, but when I join my voice with my immediate neighbors, with the larger community, that I live in, we all together have a voice that’s loud enough for our elected officials to hear.”
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The film not only shows what happens when people band together for an important cause, but reminds us viewers that the fight is not over yet. Although Dryden’s ban remains on the books, the case is heading to New York’s highest court in spring 2014.
Only time — and the court — will determine the ultimate winner of this battle.
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