As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
APPLICATION
The physical act of placing or spreading natural gas waste
or oil waste on any road or real property located within the Town
of Branford.
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
The fracturing of underground rock formations, including
shale and nonshale formations, by man-made fluid-driven techniques
for the purpose of stimulating oil, natural gas, or other subsurface
hydrocarbon production.
NATURAL GAS EXTRACTION ACTIVITIES
All geologic or geophysical activities related to the exploration
for or extraction of natural gas, including, but not limited to, core
and rotary drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
NATURAL GAS WASTE
A.
Any liquid or solid waste or its constituents that is generated
as a result of natural gas extraction activities, which may consist
of water, brine, chemicals, naturally occurring radioactive materials,
heavy metals, or other contaminants;
B.
Leachate from solid wastes associated with natural gas extraction
activities;
C.
Any waste that is generated as a result of or in association
with the underground storage of natural gas;
D.
Any waste that is generated as a result of or in association
with liquefied petroleum gas well storage operations; and
E.
Any products or byproducts resulting from the treatment, processing,
or modification of any of the above wastes.
OIL EXTRACTION ACTIVITIES
All geologic or geophysical activities related to the exploration
for or extraction of oil, including, but not limited to, core and
rotary drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
OIL WASTE
A.
Any liquid or solid waste or its constituents that is generated
as a result of oil extraction activities, which may consist of water,
brine, chemicals, naturally occurring radioactive materials, heavy
metals, or other contaminants;
B.
Leachate from solid wastes associated with oil extraction activities;
and
C.
Any products or byproducts resulting from the treatment, processing,
or modification of any of the above wastes.
TOWN
The Town of Branford.
This article shall apply to any and all actions occurring on or after the effective date of this article. The Town is empowered to issue cease-and-desist orders in case of any violation of the prohibitions and provision stated above in §§
164-2 and
164-3. It is further empowered to require remediation of any damage done to any land, road, building, aquifer, well, watercourse, air quality or other asset, be it public or private, within the Town of Branford. Any person who violates this article shall be liable for a civil penalty of not less than $1,000, nor more than $10,000 for each day of the violation [per C.G.S. § 22a-250(h), prohibiting littering or dumping].
Any designee authorized by the Board of Selectmen of Branford
may pursue penalties against any person who commits violations of
this article. The involvement of any Branford officials will not require
testing of waste products to determine chemical contents, as this
work will be done via contacting CT DEEP or other third-party analytical
laboratories as is current practice of the Town of Branford for other
exposures to potentially hazardous chemical situations.
Nothing in this article shall be interpreted to ban the transportation
of any product or by-product described herein on any roadway or real
property within the Town of Branford.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or
part of this article or the application thereof to any person, individual,
corporation, firm, partnership, entity or circumstance shall be adjudged
by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unconstitutional,
such order or judgment shall not affect, impair, effect or invalidate
the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the
clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or part of this
article, on in its application to the person, individual, corporation,
firm, partnership, entity or circumstance directly involved in the
controversy in which such order or judgment shall be rendered. In
addition, any section of this article that is preempted by future
State of Connecticut regulations will be declared null and void. To
further this end, the provisions of this article of the Branford Town
Code are hereby declared to be severable.