Mireya Navarro writes in The New York Times a New York state judge ruled Tues., Feb. 21, the town of Dryden in Tompkins County can ban natural gas drilling within its boundaries. It is the first ruling in New York to affirm local powers in the ongoing controversy over the process commonly known as hydrofracking. In August, Dryden used its zoning laws to ban the process within the town limits. A month after the ban went into effect, Colorado-based driller Anschutz Exploration filed a lawsuit, arguing the town lacked the authority to ban or regulate gas drilling. Anschultz has 22,000 acres under lease in Dryden. In the decision, Justice Phillip R. Rumsey of the State Supreme Court said state law "does not preclude a municipality from using its power to regular land use to ban oil and natural gas production." Read the full story in The New York Times.