The Commonwealth Court has cleared the way for a suit over whether hydraulic fracturing is allowed under a land deed that was executed decades before the oil and gas extraction method was developed.

In Pennsylvania Game Commission v. Seneca Resources, an en banc panel of the court unanimously ruled to allow the Pennsylvania Game Commission to proceed with its suit seeking to ban driller Seneca Resources from fracking on state game lands in Venango County, Pa., pursuant to a 1928 land deed.