Mar 25, 2020
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection enforces local Grant Township law in revoking permit for dangerous frack waste injection well

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2020
CONTACT:
Chad Nicholson
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Pennsylvania Community Organizer
CELDF.org
[email protected]
207-541-3649

GRANT TOWNSHIP, INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA: In an extraordinary reversal, last week, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) revoked a permit for a frack waste injection well in Grant Township. DEP officials cited Grant Township’s Home Rule Charter banning injection wells as grounds for their reversal.

Injection wells are toxic sewers for the fracking industry that cause earthquakes, receive radioactive waste, and threaten drinking water and ecosystems. 

Township residents popularly adopted a Home Rule Charter (local constitution) in 2015 that contains a “Community Bill of Rights.” The Charter bans injection wells as a violation of the rights of those living in the township and recognizes rights of nature. The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) assisted in drafting the Charter.

In 2017, DEP issued a permit to legalize an injection well in Grant, and simultaneously sued the township. The agency claimed that Grant’s Home Rule Charter – which protects the local environment – interfered with the DEP’s authority to administer state oil and gas policy.
Yet, in a stunning about-face, DEP enforced Grant’s law and rescinded the injection well permit, last week. “Grant Township’s Home Rule Charter bans the injection of oil and gas waste fluids,” the DEP writes. “Therefore, the operation of the Yanity well as an oil and gas waste fluid injection well would violate that applicable law.”

Since 2014, Township residents have faced a variety of intimidation tactics, including lawsuits, from the corporation behind the injection well (Pennsylvania General Energy), the oil and gas industry, and their own state government and agencies. They have not backed down, even in the face of potential municipal bankruptcy. They have continued to assert and protect their community’s rights. 

“We are over the moon that the permit was rescinded,” said Grant Township Supervisor Vice-Chair Stacy Long. “However, we know the permit should never have been issued in the first place. We can’t forget that DEP sued us for three years, claiming our Charter was invalid. Now they cite that same Charter as a valid reason to deny the industry a permit. It’s hypocritical at best. Add this to the pile of reasons Grant Township did not trust the DEP to protect our environment, and why we’ve had to democratically work at the local level to protect our community.” 

“This decision does not validate the actions of the DEP, but rather vindicates the resistance that communities like Grant have engaged in to force governmental agencies into doing the right thing,” says CELDF Pennsylvania Organizer Chad Nicholson. “DEP has been acting in bad faith. I’m glad they revoked the permit. But it took them too long to do what all governments should be doing: enforcing democratically-enacted local laws that protect public health and safety.” 
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Grant Township is aware that the industry and/or state agencies, such as DEP, may sue them again. As of today, there is no injection well in Grant Township.

Grant Township is advancing constitutional law in Pennsylvania while protecting its water and recognizing the rights of nature
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2020

CONTACT:
Chad Nicholson
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Pennsylvania Community Organizer
CELDF.org
[email protected]
207-541-3649

GRANT TOWNSHIP, INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA: On Monday, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court rebuked a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) attempt to dismiss Grant Township’s Home Rule Charter, calling DEP’s motion a “collateral attack,” and finding it was “without merit.”
The judge’s decision allows Grant Township to argue that local governing authority is necessary to protect the community’s constitutional rights in the face of harmful state oil and gas policies.
Since 2014, residents of Grant Township (pop. 700) have been threatened with a frack wastewater injection well. These wells are a toxic sewer for the fracking industry, known to receive radioactive waste and cause earthquakes.

In 2015, Township residents popularly adopted a Home Rule Charter (local constitution) containing a “Community Bill of Rights.” The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) assisted in drafting the measure, which bans injection wells as a violation of the rights of those living in the township. It also recognizes rights of nature. In 2017, the DEP sued Grant, claiming the local charter interfered with its ability to enforce state oil and gas policy.
To reiterate: the Department of Environmental Protection sued Grant Township for trying to protect the environment.

“Grant Township realized that the DEP has no ear for hearing that a radioactive frack waste dump is a dangerous and bad project for a rural, poor community like ours,” said Grant Township Supervisor Vice-Chair Stacy Long. “DEP’s job is to permit a certain amount of damage, and then try to mitigate it after the damage occurs. That is unacceptable to the people of this community, and so we said ‘NO.’ And then we got sued by our own DEP. We’re glad our case continues.”
“We’re happy to continue to stand with Grant Township in the face of DEP’s bullying,” said Chad Nicholson, CELDF Pennsylvania Community Organizer. “Grant’s creative and staunch resistance to the industry and their own hostile state government has ensured that there is still no injection well in Grant. But the fight needs to continue until all communities, including Grant, are able to protect themselves from harmful corporate activities.”

On Sept. 17, 2019, a proposed amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution was introduced into the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (HB 1813) to secure powers for local governments to ban harmful activities such as injection wells.
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The full court docket is available to view here.