On March 7, 2013, the New York State Assembly passed legislation to extend the moratorium in place on high pressure horizontal hydraulic fracturing - hydrofracking or fracking - of shale that has been in place since 2008. Though the bill, Assembly Bill 5424-A, passed...
New York State Environmental Law
Deadline for Statewide Fracking Regulations Extended
On November 29, 2012, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation missed its deadline under state law to finalize regulations for hydrofracking in New York. However, shortly before the deadline, it filed a Notice of Continuation with the Department of...
DEC “Incidental Take” Permit Regulations Survive Challenge
On July 26, 2012 the Appellate Division, Third Department affirmed the dismissal of a challenge to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's recently amended endangered species regulations. The regulations, contained in 6 NYCRR Part 182, included a...
Conservation Buffer Sufficient to Defeat Petitioners’ Standing to Challenge Proposed Development
In a decision that highlights how strictly trial courts are construing the standing of prospective plaintiffs or petitioners, a State Supreme Court justice in Westchester County recently held that because of a land conservation buffer between existing homes and a...
Court Allows Town’s Trespass and Strict Liability Claims against Neighboring Company to Go Forward
In a recent opinion, Town of Windsor v. Avery Dennison Corp., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27264 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 1, 2012), the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York allowed a town's claims of strict liability for ultrahazardous activities and...
DEC Did Not Act Outside of Its Authority in Promulgating Regulations that Required Cleanup of Contaminated Properties to “Pre-Disposal Conditions” under the State Inactive Hazardous Waste Disposal Site Act
The Court of Appeals of New York recently held that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ("DEC") did not exceed its authority or act contrary to state law in enacting certain regulations with respect to remedial programs implemented to clean...
“Fracking NY” Blog Series: Part 4 – Summary of Federal Regulations
So far in our blog series on "Fracking NY," we've presented a general background of the issues, a summary of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's ("DEC") Draft Revised SGEIS on fracking, and a summary of the DEC's proposed regulations for...
“Fracking NY” Blog Series: Update – DEC Extends Public Comment Period
On December 1, 2011, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ("DEC") announced that it is extending the public comment period on its environmental impact study of high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking."The public comment period...
“Fracking NY” Blog Series: Part 3 – Summary of DEC’s 2011 Draft Regulations
In our first two posts (here and here) in the Fracking NY Blog Series, we considered the general background of fracking in the Marcellus Shale region of New York and the 2011 Revised Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Study ("Revised Draft SGEIS")...
“Fracking NY” Blog Series: Part 2 – Summary of DEC’s 2011 Revised Draft SGEIS
As mentioned in our last NY Fracking Series post, hydraulic fracturing as a method of extracting natural gas is nothing new in New York State. But the type of high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," now being considered for the Marcellus Shale...