Everett Zone Permits

Central New York municipalities take steps to control hydrofracking

Municipal officials and their attorneys say the bans are a proper and legal extension of a town’s right to enforce zoning, just as a town can prevent a factory from being built in the middle of a neighborhood. Opponents say the municipalities are usurping the state’s authority to control a public natural resource and are taking away the rights of property owners. Hydrofracking, or fracking, has met with criticism from many residents because of fears of groundwater contamination and the high volume of water used for each well — sometimes millions of gallons. The discovery of trillions of cubic feet of gas in the sprawling Marcellus shale, which extends from Virginia to Central New York, has led to a boom in drilling in several states. The wells are several thousand feet deep and can extend horizontally for 4,000 feet. »The town of Middlefield in Otsego County has banned heavy industry, including gas drilling. The Tompkins County towns of Ulysses and Dryden have added to their list of prohibited activities the drilling or storage of natural gas. Camillus was more specific, outlawing only “horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.” »Other municipalities have adopted new laws to control the effects of hydrofracking, which brings around-the-clock, heavy truck traffic to haul in and out millions of gallons of water per well that must then be treated. The town of Virgil in Cortland County has banned drilling in much of its aquifer protection district. Auburn and Onondaga County have forbidden haulers from bringing hydrofracking wastewater to treatment plants. “We’re the crown jewel here,” said Marchie Diffendorf, chairman of the landowners group and a Broome County legislator. “You hear a lot of stories (from Pennsylvania) about people putting in new kitchens and new bathrooms and buying new trucks and tractors. When I sign a lease I’m going to do some remodeling on the house.” The report isn’t final yet, and once it’s done it will be subject to public hearings and revisions. DEC officials don’t expect to issue any drilling permits until at least next year.

Medical marijuana shop leaves Everett, hoping to make a home in ...

A hand-written sign posted Friday at 2212 Broadway read: “Sorry to all our patients. Sadly we are closed. See you in Mukilteo.”

The modest building housed the Medical Marijuana Patients Network, a collective started by Jeremy Kelsey.

Kelsey, 33, had to close shop last week after the Everett City Council voted to enact an emergency one-year ban on medical marijuana collective gardens. In doing so, Everett followed three other Snohomish County cities trying to stay ahead of a new state law that allows the gardens.

Under the state law, which went into effect July 22, qualified patients can unite to grow marijuana for medical use. Up to 10 patients can create a collective garden and harvest up to 45 plants and 4.5 pounds of usable cannabis. Dispensaries remain illegal in the state.

The Snohomish County Council this week decided not to take action toward imposing a temporary ban. The Mukilteo City Council on July 18 fell one vote short of the super majority required to pass the measure.

Kelsey said earlier this week that he is looking at real estate in Mukilteo.

“My shop, I think, sets an example for a lot of shops out there,” he said. He started the Medical Marijuana Patients Network before the law even saw the light of day. He said he was looking for a way to safely and conveniently get medical marijuana to treat his wife’s fibromyalgia — a syndrome characterized by long-term body pain. Kelsey said he also uses medical marijuana to relieve a chronic condition that causes stomach pain, severe nausea and vomiting.

Kelsey was first growing medical marijuana at his home in unincorporated Snohomish County but said he couldn’t keep it going. His only other option at the time was to travel to Seattle. Nothing was available in Snohomish County — at least nothing of medical grade, he said.

He applied for a business license in Everett in spring 2010 to start a cooperative. City officials kept giving him the runaround, he said, not saying directly whether the cooperative would be legal or illegal. It’s because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, even if individual states have approved it for medical use.

The zone, a dietary road map

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Mastering the zone, the next step in achieving superhealth and permanent fat loss

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Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes, Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle

Daniel Everett recounts the astonishing experiences and discoveries he made while he lived with the Pirah, a small tribe of Amazonian Indians in central Brazil.

Diffusion of innovations

Since the first edition of this landmark book was published in 1962,Everett Rogers's name has become "virtually synonymous with the studyof diffusion of ...