The PIOGA Press
Pennsylvania’s evolving law regarding regulation of oil and gas development has undergone yet another change, this time in a footnote to the Commonwealth Court’s January 7, 2015 en banc opinion in Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation v. Commonwealth 2015 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 9 (2015). The Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) case, in which PIOGA filed an amicus brief, rejected constitutional challenges to the leasing of state land for natural gas development and to the use of funds generated by those leases. In doing so, the Commonwealth Court took the opportunity to clarify the legal weight to be given to the analysis of the plurality decision in Robinson Township v. Commonwealth, 83 A.2d 901 (2013) interpreting Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution (the Environmental Rights Amendment).