American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2018 - 95

SpecialReport: Northeast Activity Profile
well bans adopted in Grant Township in
Indiana County and Highland Township
in Elk County, respectively.
Both municipalities worked with the
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, an anti-industry, anti-corporation, community rights organization,
to enact self-styled "Community Bill
of Rights" ordinances. These ordinances
specifically banned underground injection
wells, and by implication, other oil and
gas development, and purported to supersede any state or federal injection
well permit.
PGE had applied for and obtained a
PADEP permit to operate an underground
injection well in Grant Township, and
filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court
for the Western District of Pennsylvania
challenging the applicable Community
Bill of Rights ordinance. The case challenged the constitutionality, validity and
enforceability of these local laws.
In 2015, the court invalidated six provisions of the ordinance on state law
grounds. In March 2017, the court granted
PGE's motion for summary judgment on
three counts of PGE's complaint on the
remaining federal constitutional claims.
PGE continued to pursue its request for
damages. In a significant procedural development, PGE filed a motion for sanctions against Grant Township, CELDF
and two CELDF attorneys, asserting that
they abused the court system by filing
frivolous, unfounded and harassing pleadings in pursuit of political objectives and
other illegitimate ends.
In January 2018, the court entered a
decision granting in part PGE's motion,
ordering the two CELDF attorneys to
pay PGE $52,000 and directing the clerk
to transmit the decision to the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court Disciplinary Board with
a request to determine appropriate disciplinary measures to be imposed on one
of the CELDF attorneys.
After the sanctions ruling, the parties
reached an agreement to resolve the remaining claims and damages issues without a trial. PGE agreed to dismiss its remaining constitutional claims and its
claims for compensatory and consequential
damages. Grant Township agreed to entry
of nominal damages in favor of PGE regarding its constitutional claims, on which
the court granted summary judgment.
PGE was permitted to seek attorneys'
fees and costs pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §
1988, and the parties agreed that the
order imposing sanctions on the CELDF

attorneys would be stayed until 30 days
after the court enters final judgment on
PGE's petition for attorneys' fees and
costs.
In April, PGE filed a petition seeking
reimbursement of its attorneys' fees and
costs. The township filed an opposition,
and the matter is fully briefed and awaiting
a final decision from the court.
West Virginia, Ohio Rulings
In November 2017, Mountain Valley
Pipeline LLC (MVP) filed an action in
the federal District Court in Charleston
against the county commission of Fayette
County, W.V. The lawsuit sought entry of
an order declaring that the Fayette County
zoning ordinance, insofar as it would apply
to MVP's proposed Stallworth compressor
station, is preempted by FERC's issuance
to MVP of a certificate of public convenience and necessity pursuant to the federal
Natural Gas Act, 15 U.S.C. 717 et seq.
Before the FERC certificate for the
MVP project was issued, MVP had submitted an application for rezoning of the
compressor station property to allow for
industrial use and had appeared before
the county commission and its planning
commission on numerous occasions in
support of that request. Despite those efforts, the county commission ultimately
denied MVP's rezoning application on
the basis of its determination that the facility would be incompatible with the

county's comprehensive plan. On Aug.
29, 2018, the District Court granted summary judgment to MVP, barring the county zoning ordinance from interfering with
construction of a FERC-certified compressor station. According to the court,
both field and conflict preemption barred
enforcement of the ordinance.
In Ohio, the court again has found
that state regulations preempt local governments from regulating oil and gas
development. Following the Ohio
Supreme Court's 2015 decision in State
ex rel. Morrison, et al., v. Beck Energy
Corporation, which held that Ohio Department of Natural Resources regulations
preempted the city of Munroe Falls from
applying certain zoning requirements to
oil and gas development, the city filed a
suit to define the boundaries of the holding.
In the 2016 case, the city of Munroe
Falls asserted that the preemption recognized in the Morrison case did not preclude
the application of traditional zoning laws
to the use (i.e., while the city could not
impose a separate regulatory regime for
oil and gas development, it argued that it
could require oil and gas development to
comply with regulations that address traditional zoning concerns, such as neighborhood compatibility). In July 2016, the
Summit County Court of Common Pleas
issued a decision rejecting the city's position.

NOVEMBER 2018 95

http://www.aquaclear-inc.com

American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2018