An Allegany County, NY attorney quietly filed a lawsuit–two months ago–against the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) over their infamous frack ban. It is the first such lawsuit that we are aware of to be filed against the DEC since the frack ban was officially declared (see It’s Official: Cuomo Bans Economic Opportunity & Prosperity in NY). The beauty of the Allengany attorney’s lawsuit is that it uses the DEC’s own words against them. The DEC, according to the lawsuit, admits in their own documentation that fracking for shale gas and oil is a “viable and acceptable” method for capturing natural gas. Those words may come back to haunt the DEC. This clever attorney is suing on his own behalf, for the right to drill and frack on his own property. He filed the lawsuit in a relatively low court, called (ironically) Supreme Court–one step up from county court in NY. Here’s the details on what we hope is the beginning of the end of the infamous Andrew Cuomo frack ban in NY…
