ELR Citation: 52 ELR 20110
No(s). 21-2315 (3d Cir. Sep 16, 2022)

The Third Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge to the Delaware River Basin Commission's ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware River Basin. Pennsylvania state senators, a state caucus, and several municipalities argued the Commission exceeded its authority under the Delaware River Basin Compact, violated the Takings Clause, illegally exercised eminent domain, and violated the Constitution's guarantee of a republican form of government. A district court found that plaintiffs lacked standing and dismissed the suit. The appellate court found that the senators and caucus lacked standing because the legislative inquiries they alleged affected the state legislature as a whole, and under Supreme Court caselaw, "individual members lack standing to assert the institutional interests of a legislature." It further found the municipalities lacked standing because the economic injuries they alleged were "conjectural" and "hypothetical" rather than "actual and imminent," and that none of the plaintiffs had standing as trustees of Pennsylvania's public natural resources under the state constitution because the ban did not cognizably harm the trust. The court affirmed dismissal for lack of standing.