Landowners Group Plans To File Fracking Delay Lawsuit Against NYS Governor Cuomo

From The Journal News, lohud.com, "Landowners finish fracking lawsuit, await funds to file" by Jon Campbell:

A draft lawsuit from a pro-drilling landowners group claims Gov. Andrew Cuomo has arbitrarily delayed a decision on hydraulic fracturing for no “valid, rational or legally defensible reason.”

In a newsletter sent to its members Tuesday, the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York sent out the lawsuit it intends to file against the state, Cuomo and the commissioners of the Health and Environmental Conservation departments. But the group is trying to raise additional money to help fund the challenge before it sues, according to the letter.

The legal document takes Cuomo to task for repeatedly delaying a decision on large-scale fracking, claiming the delays violate state law and amount to an unconstitutional government “taking” of land rights.

Fracking has been on hold in New York since 2008, when the state Department of Environmental Conservation first launched the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, a lengthy review process that is meant to guide a drilling decision. That document is currently under review by state Health Commissioner Nirav Shah.