LYCOMING COUNTY, PA — A Pennsylvania court ruled on August 29 that a conditional use permit that was issued by the board of supervisors of Fairfield Township to Inflection Energy LLC for the construction of a drilling pad and operation was done in violation of the town’s zoning code.

This is the first case where the Robinson Township decision was cited as precedent, in which the Supreme Court struck down parts of Act 13 in light of the state’s Environmental Rights Amendment. In the Robinson decision, the court ruled that state lawmakers could not compel townships to accept drilling in all zoned districts.

In the Fairfield decision, Common Pleas Court Judge Marc Lovecchio said that the Fairfield supervisors wrongly decided that drilling was “similar to and compatible with” other uses in Fairfield Township’s residential agricultural (RA) zone.

Lovecchio said that although a representative of the drilling company said that drilling was compatible with other uses in the district, it offered virtually no evidence that was the case, nor did the township supervisors.

On the other side of the issue, one of the residents who brought the lawsuit offered a large amount of evidence that drilling would probably have negative impacts on the neighborhood, including this from the court decision, “Over a period of approximately five years, out of 180 wells inspected in Lycoming County, there were 660 violations.”

The judge wrote, “The Court finds that the [residents who filed the suit] presented substantial evidence that there is a high degree of probability that the use will adversely affect the health, welfare and safety of the neighborhood. Therefore, they met their burden of production. The burden of persuasion, however, was not met by [the drilling company, supervisors, and couple who owned the land where the well was to be located]. In fact, there is no evidence to support the board’s conclusion that said burden was met, let alone substantial evidence.”

The judge ordered that the permit be revoked, and drilling will not go forward at that location.

The environmental organization PennFuture called the ruling a victory. “We are pleased that the court supported the rights of citizens to rely on local zoning to protect their property values and way of life,” said George Jugovic, Jr., chief counsel for PennFuture. “Robinson Township recognized that local governments have a constitutional obligation to protect the environment and quality of life of their citizens and this decision affirms that principle.”

In a press release, Pennfuture said, “In holding that the township’s findings were not supported by substantial evidence, the court stated that the constitutional right of citizens to a healthy environment ‘cannot be ignored and must be protected.’”