Opponents of hydraulic fracturing in Luzerne County can add defamation and conspiracy claims to their suit against the private surveillance company that the government allegedly hired to watch them, a federal judge has ruled.
The Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition filed suit in 2010 claiming that the state’s former director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency’s Office of Homeland Security and the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response violated the First and 14th amendments when they surveilled the group. The 14th Amendment claims were dismissed last year.
