REALLY GOOD SUMMARY of towns/states/countries:
The USA
- The State of Vermont
- May 17, 2012: Vermont became the first state to ban the controversial
natural gas drilling practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Governor Peter Shumlin signed the ban into law Wednesday afternoon.
- New Jersey, NJ
- May 17, 2012: TRENTON, N.J. - The New Jersey Legislature
has accepted Gov. Chris Christie’s recommendation for a one-year ban on a
natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, rather
than continue to pursue a permanent ban.
- June 30, 2012 New Jersey Legislature Bans All Fracking
Waste Mindful of a court ruling in 1978 striking down a law they passed
banning waste disposal from other states, New Jersey legislators this week
passed a new law banning all disposal of fracking wastewater within its borders,
even if the waste water is produced within New Jersey. The new law is aimed at
prohibiting shipment of 1.3 billion gallons of fracking waste water already
generated in neighboring Pennsylvania from being shipped into New Jersey for
deep well injection.
- July 15, 2012 Secaucus, NJ - bans ‘fracking’ (Local
officials also call for statewide and national ban.) The mayor and Town
Council banned fracking and fracking waste water in Secaucus at the June 26
council meeting in a resolution that states that the drilling process causes
environmental hazards.
- Pittsburgh, Pa
- November 16, 2010: In a historic vote, the City of Pittsburgh today
adopted a first-in-the-nation ordinance banning corporations from natural gas
drilling in the city (Pittsburgh is finding it difficult to enact the ban
because of ‘variances’ issued by the State’s Public Utilities Commission
overruling their decisions)
- Morgantown, WV
- June 6th 2011: Morgantown City Council went ahead on Tuesday evening with
its proposed ban on fracking concerning the drilling of Marcellus Shale. The
council approved the first reading of the ordinance which would prohibit
fracking in the city and within one mile of the city limits as
well.
- 15th August 2011: On Friday, Monongalia County Judge Susan Tucker ruled
Morgantown’s ordinance to be invalid, clearing the way for Northeast to resume
drilling. In the court’s opinion, Tucker said the state had exclusive control of
regulation. Tucker also noted strides made by the state to implement
comprehensive rules for drilling.
- Syracuse, N.Y.
- October 24, 2011: SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse common councilors ban
hydrofracking in the city.
- North Carolina, RALEIGH 1st July 2012-- Governor Bev Perdue
vetoed the controversial fracking bill Sunday, the last day she had to act
before it would have become law.The governor said she supports hydraulic
fracturing, also known as “fracking,” but believes additional safeguards are
needed in the bill. Without those safeguards in place to protect drinking water
and the health of North Carolina families, Perdue said she was forced to veto
the bill.
Woodstock enacts ban on hydrofracking – Jul 22,
2012
The Town Board on July 17 delivered the first blow of a proposed two-punch
combination aimed at banning hydrofracking in Woodstock, unanimously adopting a
zoning amendment that prohibits the controversial natural-gas extraction method
and related activities within the town’s borders.
- By a vote of 5-1-1, Village of Owego passed a 1-year moratorium –
31st July 2012
Animated film of bans, moratoriums and groups in New York
State
• Two legislative bills on hydrofrack drilling were considered by the
legislature. The Assembly passed an extension of the current moratorium through
June of 2012. The Senate did not act on a parallel bill and the issue is closed
for the present.
• NYS Executive Order calling for a drilling moratorium by former Governor
Paterson has been affirmed by Governor Cuomo.
• Yates County resolution unanimously passed calls for similar protection
treatment of their watershed as that in NYC and Syracuse watersheds.
• The Town of Jerusalem (Yates) enacted a moratorium ordinance for their
entire township. The one-year moratorium begins when the Supplemental Generic
Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) relating to the extraction of natural gas
by the process of high-volume hydraulic fracturing now under review by the New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation is finalized.
• The Town of Milo is drawing up a moratorium statement for board
action.
• Dewitt, Tully, Marcellus and Skaneateles have enacted moratoria
laws.
• Highland, (Sullivan Co) is developing a moratorium statement.
• Buffalo has banned hydrofrack drilling and wastewater disposal in their
city.
• Sullivan County is the first county in New York State to enact a
moratorium.
• Lumberland (Sullivan Co) is considering a moratorium statement.
• Town of Ulysses is establishing “industrial zones” attempting to restrict
the negative impact of drilling in their water supply.
• Tompkins County has enacted a ban on fracking on county land.
• Broome County: Ban on hydrofracking on county lands. Waste restrictions
for fracking cuttings and flow back water established.
• Ontario, Sullivan and Onondaga Counties have enacted bans on fracking on
county owned land.
• Ulster County has banned hydrofrack drilling on county owned lands.
• Gorham in Ontario County enacted a moratorium ordinance.
• The towns that ring Cooperstown’s reservoir, Otsego Lake — Middlefield,
Otsego, Butternuts, and Cherry Valley — are moving to ban or restrict natural
gas drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing.
• Springfield has adopted local laws prohibiting heavy industry, including
gas drilling.
• The Medical Society of the State of New York has gone on record
supporting a moratorium on gas drilling using high volume hydraulic
fracturing.
• Cooperstown’s Chamber of Commerce has issued a position statement
supporting a total ban on fracking due to the impact it will make on their
watershed, farming and tourism.
• A group of residents have launched a petition drive designed to ban the
use of high-volume, slick water hydraulic fracturing in the Town of Caroline,
Tompkins County.
• The Village of Penn Yan will not accept any hydrofracking wastewater for
processing at the village wastewater treatment plant.
• New York City has called on the US Congress to remove hydrofrack
drilling’s exemption from the Safe Water Drinking Act.
• The Skaneateles Town Board has initiated plans for a ban in their
township.
• The Otsego County Planning Board approved changes to Middlefield’s master
plan and zoning law that would specifically prohibit heavy industry, including
gas and oil drilling.
• The Board of Trustees of Bassett Medical Center, based in Cooperstown,
New York, views the issue of hydrofracking as a public health issue of the
highest priorityand resolves that the hydrofracking method of gas drilling
constitutes an unacceptable threat to the health of patients, and should be
prohibited until such time as it is proven to be safe.
• A consortium of interested citizens is planning for a unified moratorium
and eventual ban of hydrofrack drilling in the entire Keuka Lake watershed
region. To date the towns of Barrington, Milo and Jerusalem have adopted
ordinances on a moratorium. Wayne has prepared a resolution for
consideration.
• Lebanon town board members adopted a memorializing resolution that calls
on the New York State Legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo to repeal and reform
compulsory integration laws in the State of New York that currently govern
natural gas development.
• A petition drive has resulted in the Dryden Town Board unanimously
passing a resolution to move forward with an ordinance to ban fracking.
• The Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition, Inc. has sued the Department
of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in New York State Supreme Court to declare
High Volume Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing in New York State Forests contrary
to the New York State Constitution and applicable environmental laws.
• The Otsego Town Board clarified a long-standing prohibition against heavy
industry, including fracking for natural gas, in the town’s land use law. By
this vote the town, which includes most of the Village of Cooperstown,
reaffirmed its home rule right to prohibit drilling through local ordinance.
They also approved revisions to its land-use law that strengthen a ban on gas
drilling and hydrofracking within the town. The law now specifies that while the
removal of gravel, rock, stone, sand, fill, topsoil or “unconsolidated” minerals
has been allowed, extraction of natural gas and petroleum is not
permitted.
• The Common Council of Oneonta voted to ban all forms of natural gas
drilling in city limits.
• The Town of Wales adopted a community rights ordinance that bans
“fracking.” The ordinance establishes a Bill of Rights for Wales residents and
“recognizes and secures certain civil and political rights of the residents to
govern themselves and protect themselves from harm to their persons, property
and environment.”
• The exploration of land for natural gas by horizontal drilling and
hydraulic fracturing is prohibited in the Town of Camillus.
• Brighton became the first municipality in Monroe County to take a
position on hydrofrack drilling calling for a state-wide moratorium.
• Kirkland has adopted a one-year moratorium on hydrofracking.
• New Hartford has adopted a six-month moratorium on hydrofrack drilling
for natural gas
• October 24, 2011: SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse common councilors ban
hydrofracking in the city.
.
August 14th 2012 Saint Johnsville Village, NY,
USA unanimously passed a one year moratorium on hydrofracking and its
related activities.
- Buffalo, NY
- Feb 8, 2011 6: The city of Buffalo, New York, banned the natural gas
drilling technique of hydraulic fracturing on Tuesday, a largely symbolic vote
that demonstrates concern about potential harm to groundwater from mining an
abundant energy source.The city council voted 9-0 to prohibit natural gas
extraction including the process known as “fracking” in which chemicals, sand
and water are blasted deep into the earth.
- Albany, NY (Capitol of NYS) banned hydraulic fracturing within the city
limits of the City of Albany in May, 2012. Mayor Jennings didn’t veto it.
- Sept 2012 The Rochester Town Board voted to ban hydraulic
fracturing at its August 30 meeting, to the applause of a town hall packed with
residents eager for the decision. Although passing the ban was one of the first
things the board did that evening, celebrants were still toasting with champagne
in the town hall parking lot when the meeting adjourned over an hour later.
- The town joins an estimated 35 that have passed an outright ban on the
controversial gas-mining practice in the state. A hundred other municipalities
have moratoria in place while they study the issue, and 60 more have passed
resolutions either in support of the practice, or opposing a statewide ban.
Governor Cuomo is expected to announce a decision on whether it will be
permitted in New York State or not in the very near future.
Pennsylvania:
In February, the legislature passed Act 13, which eliminated local
zoning for natural gas operations, which include drilling, compressor stations
and pipelines. Passed with support of Republican lawmakers from the Southeast,
Act 13 was hailed by the governor, lawmakers and the natural gas industry as
crucial because it provided uniformity and consistency for developing shale gas
drilling policy.
Effectively, this has deprived all the communities from having any
power to protect themeselves from the rape of their land, posioning of their
water, and harm to people, animals and crops.
- Pittsburgh adopts the first-in-the-nation community rights ordinance which
elevates the right of the community to decide, and the rights of nature over the
“rights” associated with corporate personhood. The City Council unanimously
adopted this ordinance banning corporations from conducting natural gas drilling
in the city.
- •Lehman Township in Luzerne County PA NEVER passed a moratorium or ban, the
township supervisors voted down CELDF ordinance to protect and preserve
township land and water.
- The Board of Supervisors for Licking Township, Clarion County, PA, voted
unanimously on Wednesday to adopt an ordinance banning corporations from dumping
“fracking” waste water in the township. The Licking Township Community Water
Rights and Self-Government Ordinance is the first ordinance of its kind adopted
in Pennsylvania to confront the threat of Marcellus Shale drilling.
- Cresson has enacted legislation banning fracking.
- Washington Township has banned fracking.
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania City Council unanimously passed the
pro-moratorium Resolution on Marcellus Shale Drilling Environmental and Economic
Impacts.
- The Borough Council of West Homestead, Pennsylvania, unanimously adopted an
ordinance that enacts a Local Bill of Rights, along with a prohibition on
natural gas extraction to protect those rights. The bill, titled “West Homestead
Borough’s Community Protection from Natural Gas Extraction Ordinance;
establishes specific rights of West Homestead residents, including the Right to
Water, the Rights of Natural Communities, the Right to a Sustainable Energy
Future, and the Right to Community Self-Government.
- Philadelphia refuses to purchase Marcellus Shale gas as the dumping of flow
back waters is polluting their water supply.
- Collier Township upgraded its natural gas drilling ordinance to enhance
their Marcellus Shale ordinance that would push drillers farther away from
schools and provide baseline measurements for noise levels at drilling sites.
- United Methodists representing 950 churches across central and Northeast
Pennsylvania passed a resolution calling for a temporary halt in gas well
drilling in the Marcellus Shale as well as an impact tax on those places where
drilling already has taken hold.
- Religious groups such as the Sisters of Saint Francis of Philadelphia have
advocated against fracking and in April, 2011, America, the national magazine of
the Jesuits editorialized very critically about the process.
- Baldwin Borough Council adopted a community rights ordinance that bans the
corporate extraction of natural gas.
- 30th June 2012 Legislators Pass Moratorium on Gas Drilling in Bucks,
MontCo The provision was attached to a state budget measure which
lawmakers approved late Saturday night. Companies that want to drill for natural
gas in Bucks or Montgomery counties will have to wait. State lawmakers on
Saturday night approved a moratorium on gas drilling in Bucks, MontCo and parts
of Lehigh, Berks and Chester counties. The moratorium will affect any oil or gas
operations in the South Newark Basin, which underlies a swath of territory
extending from Bucks through MontCo and into Berks County.
Arkansas
• A class-action lawsuit has been filed against companies that drill for
natural gas in central Arkansas. The suit is asking for millions of dollars in
relation to the earthquakes associated with the fracking process the companies
use. The damages enumerated in the suit are property damage, loss of fair market
value in real estate, emotional distress, and damages related to the purchase of
earthquake insurance.
- Arkansas has a ban on 4 out of more than 500 frack fluid waste-water
injection wells because of their 4.7/9 earthquake.
Maryland
• The first community in Maryland, Mountain Lake Park, adopted an ordinance
banning corporations from natural gas drilling.
• Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler has sent a letter to Chesapeake
Energy Corporation and its affiliates, notifying the companies of the State of
Maryland’s intent to sue for violating the federal Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA).
• Governor Martin O’Malleyhas signed an executive order for a three year
moratorium on drilling in MD while studies continue.
New Jersey
• The New Jersey Assembly voted to ban hydraulic fracturing in NJ in a
bipartisan overwhelming vote (58 to 11, 8 abstained), following the landslide
vote 32-1 earlier in the day by the NJ Senate. New Jersey is the first state
legislature to ban fracking.
Ohio
• 22nd August 2012: Wellsburg City Council approved an
ordinance prohibiting natural gas drilling in or within one mile of the city as
concerns mounted about the city’s water being contaminated by procedures in
hydrofrack drilling. A reservoir serving the city is beside property that
Chesapeake Energy is leasing for drilling.
A pair of proposed deep brine injection wells in Weathersfield Township got
the attention of residents and trustees. Now, opposition is growing next door in
Niles. “The property’s adjacent right to Niles, also it’s five blocks from
downtown so we’re very concerned,” Niles Mayor Ralph Infante said. Niles joined
Weathersfield Township trustees on Wednesday, passing a resolution to ban all
injection wells in the city and township. That includes the proposed site off
state Route 169 next to Niles Commerce Park.
- 28th August 2012 - Jefferson twp in Crawford county passed an extraction and
injection well resolution banning fracking activity in the township
Virginia
• George Washington National Forest has disallowed horizontal drilling for
natural gas within its 1.1 million acres of territory while opening up segments
of the forest to the potential for wind energy construction.
Texas
• Texas Gov. Rick Perry has signed a bill requiring drillers to publicly
disclose the chemicals they use when extracting oil and gas from dense rock
formations, the first state to pass such a law.
- Moratorium in the city of Grand Prairie, TX (a suburb of Dallas) until
January 2013 on drilling activities within 3,000 feet of water retention
structures. It’s been called potentially catastrophic by the United States Army
Corps of Engineers. Chesapeake and XTO placed the community in jeopardy by
already drilling and fracking in very close proximity to the local Joe Pool Dam.
Right hand did not know what the left was doing….it’s a mess.
West Virginia
• Wellsville has banned fracking.
• Lewisburg has banned fracking within their city limits.
• Morgantown banned fracking in the city and within one mile of the city
limits as well.
8 April 2012: Kaikoura District Council voted 6 to 2 to declare itself a
frack-free zone (NZ). It will be revisited after the independent investigation
by Dr Jan Wright of the Parliamentary Commission for the Environment (PCE) due
out at the end of the year. This resolution followed a request in February for a
moratorium from Central Government until the study but that was denied.
