Court Finds Pa. Gas Drilling Rule Violates State’s Constitution The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Thursday that several provisions of Act 13, signed last year by Gov. Tom Corbett to overhaul the state’s oil and gas laws, violates the Environmental Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution. The court ruled 4-2 that Act 13 violates Section 27 of the declaration of rights in Pennsylvania’s constitution, which states that citizens have a right to clean air, pure water and the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille noted that “we agree with the citizens that, as an exercise of the police power, Sections 3215(b)(4) and (d), 3303, and 3304 are incompatible with the Commonwealth’s duty as trustee of Pennsylvania’s public natural resources.” Justices Castille, Debra McCloskey Todd and Seamus P. McCaffrey stated in the ruling that Act 13’s zoning provisions, which […]