[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Council of the Town of Rocky
Hill 12-4-2017 by Ord. No. 281-17.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This chapter was adopted as Ch. 154, but was
renumbered to fit the organization of the Code.
The purpose of this chapter is to protect the health, safety,
welfare, and property of the residents of the Town of Rocky Hill pursuant
to the provisions of Section 7-148 of the Connecticut General Statutes
by prohibiting the waste associated with drilling and extraction of
natural gas and oil from being used for any purpose on any road or
real property in the Town of Rocky Hill.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words, terms
and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them
by this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different
meaning:
The physical act of placing or spreading natural gas waste
or oil waste on any road or real property located within the Town
of Rocky Hill.
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.
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.
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; leachate from solid wastes associated
with natural gas extraction activities; any waste that is generated
as a result of or in association with the underground storage of natural
gas; any waste that is generated as a result of or in association
with liquefied petroleum gas well storage operations; and any products
or byproducts resulting from the treatment, processing, or modification
of any of the above wastes.
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.
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; leachate from solid wastes associated
with oil extraction activities; and any products or byproducts resulting
from the treatment, processing, or modification of any of the above
wastes.
A.
The application of natural gas waste or oil waste, whether or not
such waste has received beneficial use determination or other approval
for use by DEEP (Department of Energy and Environmental Protection)
or any other regulatory body, on any road or real property located
within the Town for any purpose is prohibited.
B.
The introduction of natural gas waste or oil waste into any wastewater
treatment facility within or operated by the Town is prohibited.
C.
The introduction of natural gas waste or oil waste into any solid
waste management facility within or operated by the Town is prohibited.
D.
The storage, disposal, sale, acquisition, handling, transfer, treatment
and/or processing of natural gas waste or oil waste from natural gas
extraction activities or oil extraction activities is prohibited within
the Town.
A.
All bids and contracts related to the retention of services to construct
or maintain any publicly owned and/or maintained road or real property
within the Town shall include a provision stating that no materials
containing natural gas or oil waste shall be utilized in providing
such a service.
B.
All bids and contracts related to the purchase or acquisition of
materials to be used to construct or maintain any publicly owned and/or
maintained road or real property within the Town shall include a provision
stating that no materials containing natural gas or oil waste shall
be provided to the Town.
C.
The following statement, which shall be a sworn statement under penalty
of perjury, shall be included in all bids related to the purchase
or acquisition of materials to be used to construct or maintain any
publicly owned and/or maintained road or real property within the
Town and all bids related to the retention of services to construct
or maintain any publicly owned and/or maintained road or real property
within the Town:
"We _____ hereby submit a bid for materials, equipment and/or
labor for the Town. The bid is for bid documents titled _____. We
hereby certify under penalty of perjury that no natural gas waste
or oil waste will be used by the undersigned bidder or any contractor,
sub-contractor, agent or vendor agent in connection with the bid;
nor will the undersigned bidder or any sub-contractor, agent or vendor
agent thereof apply any natural gas waste or oil waste to any road
or real property within the Town as a result of the submittal of this
bid if selected."
This chapter shall apply to any and all actions occurring on
or after the effective date of this chapter. In response to a violation
of this chapter, the Town is empowered to:
A.
Issue "cease and desist" orders demanding abatement of the violation;
B.
Seek any appropriate legal relief, including immediate injunctive
relief, as a result of any violation of this chapter;
C.
File a complaint with any other proper authority;
D.
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. The Town may recoup from the offending
person(s), jointly and severally, all costs, including experts, consultants
and reasonable attorneys' fees, that it incurs as a result of
having to prosecute or remediate any infraction of this chapter.
E.
Issue citations in the amount of $250 per violation per day, or such
other amount as is allowed by law, and seek any other remedies allowable
under the law.
A.
The Town Manager, or a designee, is hereby empowered and authorized
to, if appropriate, issue orders and other directives under this chapter
and refer matters in connection therewith to the Town's counsel.
B.
Town employees, officers and officials are not required to personally
carry out testing of waste products to determine chemical contents,
as this work may be done via contacting the State of Connecticut Department
of Energy and Environmental Protection or the appropriate analytical
laboratory or laboratories. If appropriate, the Town's Manager,
or a designee, may request that the State of Connecticut Department
of Energy and Environmental Protection pursue civil penalties allowable
under the law.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or
part of this chapter 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
chapter or 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. To
further this end, the provisions of this chapter are hereby declared
to be severable.
In any case where a provision of this chapter is found to be
in conflict with a provision of any other ordinance or code of the
Town, the provision that establishes the higher standard for the protection
of the health, safety, welfare and property of the residents of the
Town shall prevail. In any case where a provision of this chapter
is found to be in conflict with a provision of any other ordinance
or code of the Town, which other ordinance or code establishes a lower
standard for the protection of the health, safety, welfare and property
of the residents of the Town, the provisions of this chapter shall
be deemed to prevail, and such other ordinances or codes are hereby
declared to be repealed to the extent that they may be found in conflict
with this chapter.
Nothing in this chapter 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 Rocky Hill.
