Town of Olive resolves to pass drilling moratorium

Gas drillers aren't exactly clamoring to set up rigs in the Ulster County town of Olive, well north and east of the more gas-rich parts of the Marcellus Shale in New York State. But town officials are worried enough about the prospect of hydraulic fracturing that they've voted to draft a sweeping moratorium on all gas-related activity in the town.

At a town meeting on April 10, YNN reports, the town board unanimously passed a resolution to place a one-year moratorium on the exploration, extraction, disposal and storage of natural gas.

The law itself has not yet been drafted. But in a resolution (embedded below), the town board calls for a local law to be drafted that will place a moratorium not only on hydraulic fracturing, but also on "the transportation of any by-product of hydro-fracking on any roads that traverse the Town of Olive."

Route 28, a state highway that is one of the major transportation arteries in the region, runs through the town of Olive.

Olive Resolution: Request a Local Law for a Moratorium on Process of Hydro Fracking