Court of Appeals asked to weigh in on N.Y. fracking ban cases
By Daniel Wiessner
ALBANY, N.Y. (Reuters) - A gas drilling company and an upstate farmer have asked New York's top court to review a recent decision upholding the right of towns to ban drilling, saying the cases will help determine the fate of the controversial drilling method known as fracking.
Attorneys for Norse Energy USA and dairy farmer Jennifer Huntington on Friday filed briefs asking the Court of Appeals to weigh in on whether a state law regulating oil and gas drilling pre-empted towns and villages from enacting bans.
Norse is challenging a drilling ban in the Ithaca suburb of Dryden, while Huntington is looking to overturn a similar ban in Middlefield, near Cooperstown. The Appellate Division, Third Department, last month unanimously ruled in favor of the towns, upholding a pair of 2012 decisions by Supreme Court justices.
Norse's attorney, Thomas West, said in his brief that allowing the Third Department decision to stand could "toll the death knell" for gas drilling in New York.
Read more at http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/New_York/News/2013/06_-_June/Court_of_Appeals_asked_to_weigh_in_on_N_Y__fracking_ban_cases/
