EDF Praises Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania Decision on Oil and Gas Drilling Law

(Harrisburg, PA – July 27, 2012) Yesterday, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania struck down provisions of the state’s recently passed drilling law, Act 13, that pre-empted the ability of local governments to apply traditional zoning authority to oil and gas operations. 

“We commend the court for recognizing that local governments have a Constitutional responsibility to make sure oil and gas development is orderly and to ensure the rights of citizens to safe, healthy neighborhoods that aren’t steamrolled by unplanned growth. The Pennsylvania General Assembly clearly overstepped its bounds when it passed this law, and today the court got it right by saying so.”