ELR Citation: 45 ELR 20196
No(s). 14-209 (W.D. Pa. Oct 14, 2015) (Baxter, M.J.)

A district court struck down portions of a town ordinance, deemed a "Community Bill of Rights," that sought to ban the disposal of waste materials from oil and gas extraction within its borders. The town is a "second class township" under state law. As such, it is subject to Pennsylvania's Second Class Township Code and possesses only those powers granted to it by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Because there is no state authority expressly granting a municipal government or its people the authority to regulate the depositing of waste from hydraulic fracturing or to invalidate permits granted by the state or federal government, the town exceeded its legislative authority when it sought to do just that. In addition, the ordinance's outright ban on the injection and storage of oil and gas materials within its borders is exclusionary in violation of Pennsylvania law, which requires that a municipality authorize all legitimate uses somewhere within its boundaries. Likewise, the town violated state law by granting it and all of its residents the power to enforce and defend the rights and prohibitions of the ordinance, including the rights to recover all costs of litigation, experts, and attorney fees, regardless of whether the town and/or its residents succeed in such enforcement. And the Pennsylvania Limited Liability Companies Law and the Second Class Township Code preempted portions of the ordinance that purport to divest corporations of their rights as "persons."