A judge on Wednesday ordered a temporary halt to the sections of Pennsylvania’s new Marcellus Shale law that put limits on the power of municipalities to regulate the booming natural gas exploration industry, a victory for the seven municipalities that sued.
However, the Commonwealth Court senior judge, Keith Quigley, suggested that the towns’ wider challenge to the constitutionality of the local zoning limitations is questionable, saying in a two-page order that he’s not convinced that “the likelihood of success is on the merits is high.”
Still, Quigley said municipalities must have an adequate opportunity to pass zoning rules that comply with the eight-week-old law without the fear or risk that the development of oil or gas operations in the meantime will be inconsistent with them.
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