Home rule and natural gas development in New York: civil fracking rights

Jeanne Simonelli

doi:10.2458/v21i1.21136

Abstract

This paper explores the way community understanding of the impact and infrastructure associated with hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has translated into social action within the social, political, and ecological context of rural New York State, USA. How have residents confronted the boom-bust development of fracking, in the face of both actual drilling and the construction of supporting energy infrastructure? What avenues are open to residents as they plan for the long term sustainability of townships? Finally, on the level of both energy and rural development: if not gas, then what? This paper uses both actual and virtual interviews and oral histories to provide a case study of a struggle for environmental justice amidst conflicting visions and experiences of rural life in one New York region.Key words: fracking, home rule, New York, social movements , Zapatistas

Highlights

I came to Otsego County, New York twenty-five years ago, to a gentle valley nestled on the banks of the Susquehanna, and still call it home
As local community representatives and resident groups continued grappling with the question of how to control industrial development in their legally-defined townships, the Coalition Against Unsafe Drilling (CUAD) became a unifying site for advocacy in Otsego County, meeting monthly to compare experiences and plan integrated strategy
Taking advantage of New York's moratorium, individual townships in the shale gas regions of the state have used home rule in an attempt to chart their own development course, by passing bans and moratoriums on fracking and the industrial development associated with it (Figure 3)

Summary

Introduction

I came to Otsego County, New York twenty-five years ago, to a gentle valley nestled on the banks of the Susquehanna, and still call it home. For years I owned a ninety acre blueberry farm and wetlands which I sold just before the landmen came, offering gradually increasing sums of money for our natural gas mineral rights. To "be a Zapatista wherever you are" has meant embracing a model of engagement and action within the context of case specific response to globally pervasive challenges, as has occurred among grassroots organizations in New York (Earle and Simonelli 2011). In both cases, my goal has been to document the process that people use to achieve a particular end. How do residents view the boom-bust development of fracking, in the face of actual drilling, and the construction of supporting energy infrastructure? What avenues are open to towns as they plan for their long term survival? on the level of both energy and rural development: if not gas, what?

Hydraulic fracturing in New York State: towns as communities

Legal tools: home rule in New York

Findings

Collateral damage: so what about people?