ORDINANCE - Amendment #1 - Moratorium on Oil-Gas Development

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(3) It has been several years since the last Land Use Plan was developed, and due to changes in the County due to expansion of industry and residential housing, it is necessary to further study the impacts of traditional mining so zoning reflects the proper areas in which such industry should operate. (4) Other existing County ordinances generally applicable to development such as erosion and sedimentation control, water supply watershed regulations, setbacks and buffers regulate only specific, limited impacts and are not adequate to regulate the wide range of impacts of oil and gas development. (5) Establishing a permitting process for oil or gas development without thorough study would be premature and could result in standards that are inadequate to regulate or mitigate the local impacts, or that are unnecessarily stringent and might be subject to legal challenge as preempted by the state regulatory programs. The state regulatory program was finalized very recently and is currently subject to legal challenge. More time is needed for Lee County to determine what conditions are necessary and reasonable to supplement the State programs without being subject to preemption. WHEREAS, the County has determined that the foregoing actions or alternative courses of action are not adequate because hydraulic fracturing is a relatively new method of extracting subsurface oil and gas and the County staff is not sufficiently informed as to the potential dangers to the public of this method and how to best regulate the same within the limited authority granted to local governments by the North Carolina General Assembly. WHEREAS, the County has determined that a 24 -month moratorium on any County approval required for oil and gas development and mining will provide the County an opportunity to update in its current land use ordinances without being required to approve such development under its current, inadequate ordinances; and WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners of Lee County has determined that the moratorium imposed by the Ordinance shall terminate two years after adoption, unless such study is complete prior to such time, and that the duration of the moratorium imposed is reasonable because that is the minimum period of time that it will take to address the problems caused by oil and gas activities and mining activities and to complete the 2030 Land Use Plan. The only reasonable alternatives to imposing this moratorium are (i) adopting a hastily prepared amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance that may exceed the County's regulatory authority, or (ii) allowing oil and gas activities and mining without providing the citizens of Lee County the necessary land development guidance and review tools required to protect the public health and safety; and WHEREAS, it is the expressed intent of the Board of Commissioners to lift the moratorium as soon as possible and to that end it will instruct all consultants, boards, and committees working on the problems and conditions necessitating the moratorium to complete their work as soon as reasonably possible so that the required ordinance or ordinances will be in place and development can resume at the earliest possible time, but with the proper safeguards in place to protect the citizens, residents, and property owners of Lee County; NOW, THEREFORE, be it ordained by the Lee County Board of Commissioners, in the Lee County Code of Ordinances, Chapter 12, Article IV: