Law360 interviewed Manatt's Craig Moyer, chair of the firm's Land, Environment and Natural Resources division, for an article on the growing list of California localities outlawing hydraulic fracturing.
As reported by Law360, voters in Mendocino and San Benito counties passed proposals outlawing fracking within their borders, while a third proposal in Santa Barbara County failed. The practical effects of the new bans are relatively minor, but they do add weight to an emerging trend. Meanwhile, California is currently in the middle of implementing its own regulatory scheme for fracking after Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation known as Senate Bill 4 into law last year, setting the stage for legal battles to determine regulatory supremacy over the controversial drilling technique.
"I think inevitably there will be litigation if these [local bans] continue," said Moyer. "The whole point of S.B. 4 was to show how the state's regulating the activity."
Read the article here.