[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town of North Haven 6-25-2018 Special Town Meeting. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter, to be known as the "Ordinance Prohibiting
Wastes Generated from Oil and Gas Drilling and Extraction Activities"
or "Hydraulic Fracturing Waste," is to prohibit the use, storage,
disposal, sale, acquisition, transfer, handling, treatment, and/or
processing of waste from natural gas or oil extraction within the
Town of North Haven as set forth herein to protect the health, safety,
welfare, and property of the public pursuant to Connecticut General
Statutes, § 7-148.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall
have the meanings herein defined:
The physical act of placing or spreading natural gas waste
or oil waste on any road or real property located within the Town
of North Haven.
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 by-products 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 by-products resulting from the treatment, processing,
or modification of any of the above wastes.
The following acts/activities are hereby prohibited in the Town
of North Haven:
A.Â
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 the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental
Protection ("CT DEEP") or any other regulatory body, on any road or
real property located within the Town for any purpose.
B.Â
The introduction of natural gas waste or oil waste into any wastewater
treatment facility within or operated by the Town.
C.Â
The introduction of natural gas waste or oil waste into any solid
waste management facility within or operated by the Town.
D.Â
The storage, disposal, sale, acquisition, transfer, handling, treatment
and/or processing of waste from natural gas or oil extraction.
A.Â
The following provisions shall be included in all bids and contracts
related to the retention of services for the construction or maintenance
of publicly owned and/or maintained roads or real property within
the Town:
B.Â
In addition to the above, 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 of North Haven. 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, subcontractor, agent or vendor agent in connection with
the bid; nor will the undersigned bidder or any subcontractor, agent
or vendor agent thereof apply any natural gas waste or oil waste to
any road or real property within the Town of North Haven as a result
of the submittal of this bid if selected."
The First Selectman of the Town of North Haven, or his/her designee,
is hereby authorized to pursue penalties against any person(s) who
commit a violation of this chapter. The involvement of any North Haven
officials will not require testing of waste products to determine
chemical contents. Such officials may engage the assistance of CT
DEEP or third-party testing facilities to determine the chemical contents
of any waste products suspected to violate the terms of this chapter.
A.Â
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 of North Haven is empowered to:
(1)Â
Issue cease-and-desist orders demanding abatement of the violation;
(2)Â
Seek any appropriate legal relief, including immediate injunctive
relief, as a result of any violation of this chapter;
(3)Â
File a complaint with any other proper authority; and
(4)Â
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 North Haven.
B.Â
The Town of North Haven 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 violation of this chapter.
C.Â
For any violation of this chapter, the Town of North Haven may also
impose fines 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.
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 North Haven.
A.Â
This chapter is not intended to modify or repeal any other ordinance,
rule, regulation, or other provision of law. The requirements of this
chapter are in addition to the requirements of any other ordinance,
rule, regulation, or other provision of law; and where any provision
of this chapter imposes restrictions which are different from those
imposed by any other ordinance, rule, regulation, or other provision
of law, the provision which is more restrictive or imposes greater
protective standards for human health and the environment shall control.
B.Â
The provisions of this chapter are hereby declared to be severable.
If any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, or clause of this
chapter or the application thereof to any person, establishment, or
circumstances is held to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction,
such invalidity shall not affect the other provisions or application
of this chapter.
