Details of court ruling on 2012 gas drilling law

Details of Thursday’s Commonwealth Court ruling on a lawsuit challenging aspects of a 2012 law that updated Pennsylvania’s oil and gas drilling regulations:

STRUCK DOWN

- The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s power to withhold drilling fee revenue from municipalities whose zoning it deems to illegally restrict drilling activity.

UPHELD

- Exclusion of private water users from the requirement of who must be notified by Department of Environmental Protection of potential drilling contamination.

- Ability of a corporation empowered to transport, sell or store natural gas to take property by eminent domain under certain conditions.

- Limits on what doctors may reveal about the proprietary contents of hydraulic fracturing solutions.