Last week New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens dropped a bombshell. He said even if new fracking rules are not officially adopted, he has the power to move forward with issuing permits for horizontal shale drilling/fracking (see Deadline for NY Fracking Regs Slips Again…Or Does It?). Was Martens being truthful? Is he mistaken? Or is he simply trying to get landowners to hold off on filing a lawsuit for “takings” that, if successful, might bankrupt the state over their illegal actions? Martens’ comments from last week are an ongoing source of debate and speculation. What, exactly, did he mean? Can he really do that?

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New York State is drama central when it comes to whether or not shale drilling will happen. The big drama is whether the dithering Andrew Cuomo will finally make a decision and stick to it—he’s been called “Hamlet on the Shale” for his indecisiveness by no less than the New York Times. The second biggest drilling-related drama concerns where drilling will happen and whether or not local municipalities can control it. A pair of court cases heads for a hearing in March to help determine that.

As MDN has covered ad nauseam in the past, the town of Dryden (in Tompkins County) and Middlefield (in Otsego County) were sued to overturn their bans on the practice of hydraulic fracturing. Those court cases will be heard in March at the Appellate Court level. The New York State Association of Towns filed an “Amicus Brief” (“friend of the court” brief) supporting the two towns’ right to ban fracking. However, a group of towns in the Southern Tier of New York have filed their own letter with the Appellate Court that says in essence, “Wait a minute, NYSAT doesn’t speak for us!”

Read More “Some NY Towns Want Fracking, Association Doesn’t Speak for Them”