(December 20, 2012) With the help of Earthjustice, the Town of Dryden in Tompkins County still wages legal battle with Denver-based Anschutz Corporation. The national gas drilling company sued the Town in 2011 in response to its zoning change that prohibited hydrofracking, claiming that the state, not local governments, control oil and gas drilling in municipalities. In a December 20 Earthjustice press release, Dryden Town Supervisor Mary Ann Sumner said, “The oil and gas industry may wish it were otherwise, but municipalities have the right to determine what types of development are appropriate within their borders. We are firmly committed to defending that right.” This and similar cases are important tests of “home rule” land use control in New York State. So far, the courts have ruled in favor of this municipal-level control.
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