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3 Joule: Duq. Energy & Envtl. L.J. 1 (2015)

handle is hein.journals/joule3 and id is 1 raw text is: 




The  Property and  Privacy Implications of Act 13: Robinson Twp. v. Commonwealth

                                 Ryan  P. Driscoll

Introduction

       On December  19th, 2013, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that parts of

Pennsylvania's newly amended oil and gas act, Act 13 (hereinafter the Act), were

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unconstitutional. In the Supreme Court's ruling, four issues were remanded to the

Commonwealth   Court.3 The first issue was whether a notice requirement of a spill from

drilling operations that excludes private water supplies, in favor of public water supplies,

is a special law and/or violates equal protection.4 Next, the court addressed whether a

non-disclosure requirement for trade secret protected chemicals impeded a health

professional's ability to diagnose and treat patients.5 The third issue the court addressed

was whether providing private corporations with eminent domain powers, for private

                           6
purposes, is unconstitutional. The final issue the court addressed was whether the power

conferred upon the Public Utility Commission (PUC) to review local zoning ordinances

and to withhold impact fees from local governments are severable from enjoined

provisions of Act 13.7

1. Robinson  Twp. v. Commonwealth,  96 A.3d 1104 (Commw.   Ct. 2014) [Robinson
Twp. III]

A. Facts
       In order to understand the case at hand, it is necessary to briefly review the




1 58 PA. CONS. STAT. §§ 2301-3504 (2012).
2 Robinson Twp., Washington Cnty. v. Commonwealth., 83 A.3d 901, 915 (Pa. 2013) [Robinson Twp. I].
3 Robinson Twp. v. Commonwealth, 96 A.3d 1104 (Commw. Ct. 2014). [Robinson Twp. III]
4 Id. at 1109.
5Id. at 1110.
6 id.
7 id.


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