Summary
In 2013 Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) obtained a federal permit to inject fracking waste into an abandoned well within the town. Community members feared that chemicals in the fracking waste would leach from the injection well into their private water wells, which are the community’s only source of drinking water. In 2014, the township of Grant, Pennsylvania adopted a community bill of rights that declared any permit for fracking injection in the town was invalid, and that corporations had no legal right to challenge the ordinance in court. The ordinance also recognized rights of nature. PGE filed its threatened lawsuit against the town, claiming that the ordinance violated its rights guaranteed by federal and state statutes and by the US constitution, including the right to operate an injection well pursuant to federal and state permits and the constitutional right to challenge the Grant ordinance in court. The federal judge ruled against the town and entered judgment for PGE. But, despite this victory, PGE did not begin to operate the injection well, as litigation relating to Grant Township’s Home Rule charter continued (see Grant Township Home Rule Charter Initiative).