While the NYSDEC labors with drafting rules for regulationg hydraulic fracturing (fracking), local governments in New York are taking action to ensure that fracking operations do not occur in their jurisdictions. One common tool is to adopt zoning ordinances that prohibit all activities related to the exploration, production or storage of natural gas and petroleum.

Companies that own gas leases as well as property owners have also been active, filing legal challenges to these zoning laws. The plaintiffs have asserted that the ordinances are pre-empted by the state Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Law. However, the first two decisions to be decided have upheld these local ordinances. The courts have found no evidence of express pre-emption and have also found no conflict with the state law. Both courts viewed the state laws as protecting the "how" to conduct oil and gas exploration or production while the zoning laws governed the "where" such operations could be conducted.

More information about these cases is available from my website at: http://www.environmental-law.net/2012/03/two-ny-state-courts-uphold-zoning-ordinances-banning-fracking/,