New Battleground Opens in Local Versus State Control of Fracking

摘要

The long-simmering legal fight over community rights versus state control over hydraulic fracturing and its aftereffects is about to boil over again. The battleground this time: Ohio, home of the Utica Shale. Technically, this could be considered the second round in the Ohio fight over local control versus state control of drilling activities. In February, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the state has the right to regulate the oil and natural gas industry, not individual towns or townships (NGWFeb.23'15).