NORWICH – A law written to protect Chenango County’s roads from damages caused by heavy trucking, as in the case of natural gas development, has been in the works for three years.

It was one of the first pieces of business before the county’s Natural Gas Advisory Committee when it was created back in 2008 and one of two controls – the other being taxation – that municipalities could wave over the then impending gas industry.

According to Chenango County Department of Planning and Development Director Donna M. Jones, members of the gas committee now say they hope to have the proposed ordinance ready for adoption in January.

An actual draft law has been passed back and forth from the advisory committee, the Public Works Committee and the county’s attorney over the past 12 months, at least. PW Committee Chairman John Phelan, R-Conventry, said in November that a resolution would come before the board for consideration this month, but it didn’t.

With Phelan voted out of office and the retirements of County Attorney Richard Breslin and Public Works Director Randy Gibbon, the chances of adopting such a proposal in January seem slim.

Many town boards in the county have been pressured by opponents to drilling and hydraulic fracturing to outright ban water and fracking trucks, if not control where and how often they can travel. A year ago this week, a majority of council persons on the Afton Town Board – led by long-standing Green Party member Mary Jo Long – pushed through their own road use ordinance. It was rescinded a month later, however, at an emotionally charged, standing room only board meeting because the board decided it targeted drilling companies unfairly, leaving other businesses’ heavy truck traffic for fuel, septic, garbage, propane alone.