HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The energy industry and policymakers in Pennsylvania, the heart of the
nation’s gas drilling boom, arethinking about their next moves after the state’s highest court threwout
significant portions of a law that limited the power of cities andcounties to regulate the industry.The
state Supreme Court voted4-2 on Thursday to strike down portions of a 2012 law that had beencrafted by Gov.
Tom Corbett and his industry-friendly allies in theLegislature.Republican leaders in the General Assembly
said thedecision raised more questions than it answered and could damage thegrowing industry. They said they
were not sure, for example, what theruling would mean for the millions in impact fees being collected
underthe law.Pennsylvania has over the past five years seen a boom indrilling and related industries rushing
to exploit the deposits in therock formation known as the Marcellus Shale, which lies deep underneathseveral
Eastern states.The high court’s decision comes as theenergy industry is increasingly able to harvest oil and
gas from thosepreviously unreachable formations and, as a result, is bumping upagainst suburban and urban
expectations of land use in states includingTexas, Colorado and Ohio, where a similar legal challenge is
under way.The court majority said the law violated the state constitution, although they issued different
opinions about why.Sevenmunicipalities had challenged the law that grew out of the state’s needto modernize
20-year-old drilling laws to account for a Marcellus Shaledrilling boom made possible by innovations in
technology, most notablyhorizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The process, popularlycalled fracking,
has drawn widespread criticism from environmentalistsand many residents living near drilling
operations."Few couldseriously dispute how remarkable a revolution is worked by thislegislation upon
the existing zoning regimen in Pennsylvania, includingresidential zones," wrote Chief Justice Ron
Castille. He said the law’srules represented an unprecedented "displacement of prior planning,
andderivative expectations, regarding land use, zoning, and enjoyment ofproperty."After the industry
began descending on the MarcellusShale in earnest in 2008, state Supreme Court decisions expanded thelegal
gray area surrounding the extent of municipal authority over theoperation and location of oil and gas wells,
critics of the decisionssay. Some companies complained that municipalities, mostly insouthwestern
Pennsylvania, had tried to use zoning rules to unreasonablylimit drilling.As a result, many in the industry
made it a toppriority to secure a law that eliminated any municipal authority overhow drilling companies
could operate. Corbett took office in 2011 andbacked the industry, believing that a 1984 state law had
intended to dothat anyway.Colorado and Ohio have recently passed such laws. InNew York, where state
officials essentially put Marcellus Shale drillingon hold, state courts are currently deciding whether local
governmentshave the right to ban the industry from operating within their borders.Thelaw restricted local
municipalities’ ability to control where companiesmay place rigs, waste pits, pipelines and compressor and
processingstations. The new zoning rules never went into effect because of a courtorder. A narrowly divided
lower court struck them down in 2012, butCorbett appealed, saying lawmakers have clear authority to
overridelocal zoning.Among the objectionable provisions cited by thelawsuit were requirements that drilling,
waste pits and pipelines beallowed in every zoning district, including residential, as long ascertain
buffers were observed."We must not allow today’s rulingto send a negative message to job creators and
families who depend onthe energy industry," Corbett said, adding he will continue to work tohelp the
energy industry thrive. Republican leaders said they wereunsure whether the decision invalidated impact fees
that have generatedhundreds of millions of dollars.The municipalities argued thezoning restrictions ran
counter to objectives of protecting theenvironment, health and safety of people who live there, and three
ofthe six justices agreed. A fourth justice ruled that the law violatedthe municipalities’ constitutional
rights to due process to carry outcommunity planning.Justice J. Michael Eakin said he would haveupheld the
law. He had concerns about the power the majority gave to thestate’s thousands of local entities at the
expense of the Legislature."Givingstanding to some 2,500 sets of local officials to sue the
sovereignbased on alleged violations of individual constitutional rights ismisguided, and will have
precedential repercussions — I fear we willsoon face a tide of mischief that will flow from such an
ill-advisednotion," Eakin said.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten orredistributed.