Cuomo: Local input 'relevant' for fracking

ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Tuesday that local input on hydrofracking should be considered if and when the state issues permits, but should not be the deciding factor.

"Home rule is relevant. Home rule is one of the basic, essential elements of our democracy," Cuomo said during a news conference. "Is it necessarily determinative? No. But is it relevant? Yes."

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is expected to release a final environmental impact statement and regulations for the controversial natural gas drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, by the end of the summer.

Cuomo said questions about home rule are contingent on the DEC first determining that the practice can be done safely.

Hydrofracking is a drilling method that pumps millions of gallons of chemical-laced water into the earth to break up shale formations and release natural gas. Incidents of water contamination elsewhere and issues over waste disposal have raised concerns about the practice.

Many towns and municipalities in upstate New York that lie over the Marcellus Shale formation have either banned the practice or limited it through zoning ordinances.

A spokesman for Colorado-based Anschutz Exploration Corp., which sued the upstate town of Dryden over its hydrofracking ban, declined to comment.

The State Supreme Court has upheld drilling restrictions enacted in Dryden and Middletown, but those decisions have been appealed.

Environmental groups said local wishes should be heeded.

"It's going to be the localities that bear the brunt of the impacts of any type of drilling if it's allowed to go forward, so with that, these localities should have the opportunity to restrict drilling as much as permissible under the law," said Katherine Nadeau, a program director for Environmental Advocates of New York.

Kate Sinding, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said local governments would have to deal with the impact of increased trucking, the influx of workers and use of emergency services so "there should be absolute deference on the part of the state to [local] decisions."

Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan said that while he's supportive of home rule, some local officials may also be land owners who have a vested interest in the outcome.

"If you really want to have home rule, then you're going to have to have a series of referendums," Ryan said. Binghamton has a temporary ban in place that Ryan said he wants to make more permanent.The Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York, an industry trade group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment but has opposed bans in the past.