DEC issues de facto ban on gas drilling in NYC watershed

This just in: The DEC has declared that their draft regulations on natural-gas drilling don't apply to New York City's watershed. (Or, for that matter, Syracuse's Skaneateles Lake watershed, also among a handful of water systems in the nation allowed by the EPA to operate without filtration.) From the New York Times:

While not an outright ban, state officials said, leaving the watersheds out of the regulatory plan would make it virtually impossible for a natural gas company to seek to drill in the watershed because of the costs and bureaucratic hurdles involved.

Stand back for a blast of outrage from local pols, some of whom have been claiming that any ban on gas drilling in the watershed amounts to a regulatory taking of property.

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