Clinical Instructor Shaun Goho was quoted in several news stories in recent days regarding a case challenging a local ordinance that bans hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) within the town’s borders.
The town of Dryden, New York, banned gas drilling through a revision to its zoning code in 2011. A gas drilling company that owns leases in the town sued, arguing that the local ban was superseded, or preempted, by state law. The town won in trial court but the company appealed. Arguments were heard in the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, last Thursday.
Several news articles, from ones the Associated Press, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Bloomberg Businessweek, quoted Mr. Goho regarding the national significance of the case, which comes at a time when conflicts over local authority to limit or regulate fracking are occurring all over the country.
Mr. Goho published an article on the scope of local authority over oil and gas drilling last year. Other examples of the Clinic’s work on fracking are available here and here.