Tempers Flare at Gas Drilling Forum with PA. legislators and DEP

[MrMickeysMom]

3. Even the the Pittsburgh Post Gazette has done a good job of this story, people will not understand..

... because their legislators did not understand. Most state legislators have NEVER understood and legislated locally. They were handed talking points and didn't even know what the hell they were signing on to.

Act 13, while going through the Senate, was defended by talking points... they came from the gas and oil lobby. True, many in Washington County and Westmoreland County were on the phone and lobbying our legislators, but it was those local govt officials around SW PA who called my attention to it in Allegheny County and I had to explain it to legislators herein.

Right now, the work other local govt officials did in Harrisburg and by challenging this has extended us to a 120 day delay to "comply" with these ridiculous superseeding zoning laws. This will only delay the inevitable, which is when the fight begins all over again.

This fight is being carried out by local municipalities, because we understand what this law does and will continue to do to usurp land us. The total disregard for local governments understanding how each zoning district can and should be used is why Act 13 is ruled unconstitutional.

Residents, meanwhile, will only rise up when they see a drilling pad 300 feet form their kid's elementary school, or in a bare parking lot. The Marcellus Commission continues to lobby and we're supposed to take this lying down.