Top state judges weigh local hydrofrack bans

Brian Nearing

Albany

The state's highest court on Tuesday considered the fate of dozens of local government bans in the Southern Tier and elsewhere against natural gas hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking.

A ruling by the state Court of Appeals is still months away, but Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman summed up what is at stake: a uniform state energy policy of natural gas not at the mercy of hundreds of towns versus the right of community residents to determine their quality of life.

"You don't bulldoze over the voice of the people on how they want to live," Lippman said at the end of about 90 minutes of question-and-answer among the judges and four lawyers. A pair of attorneys represented two upstate towns — Dryden in Tompkins County and Middlefield in Otsego County — that in 2011 adopted fracking bans. On the other side are a dairy farmer and the bankrupt Norse Energy Corp., which sued to overturn the bans.

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Top-state-judges-weigh-local-hydrofrack-bans-5526631.php