An attorney within the natural gas drilling industry said he hopes for quick action on an appeal of a Commonwealth Court ruling that overturned a local zoning provision in Act 13, the recently approved Marcellus Shale drilling law. The ruling stripped the law of a provision that would prevent local governments from enacting changes in their zoning ordinances merely to block drilling. The Corbett administration has appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court.
“If you read the opinion, it’s almost as if the General Assembly should have used stronger language to prevent local governments from blocking drilling in their jurisdictions,” an attorney for the industry said. “A long line of court cases state the General Assembly can dictate what the local governments do. They are creations of the General Assembly.”
