From the Clean Air Council (http://www.cleanair.org/):
I never thought I’d be saying this: the Clean Air Council just won a precedent-setting free speech case. A court in Butler County, Pennsylvania rightly decided that petitioning our government to protect everyone’s right to breathe clean air is protected speech, just like protesting unjust wars or telling unpopular truths.
In late 2014, the Council sided with a group of concerned parents and challenged permits that allowed a gas company, Rex Energy, to frack within a half-mile of a school district and fewer than 1,000 feet from a small residential community. Through the Council’s efforts to protect these residents, the Council was able to force Rex to put its drilling on hold for over a year.
But Dewey Homes, a local developer, and individuals eager to get their gas royalty checks didn’t like how successful we’d been. In short, they wanted their money and they were mad about it. So they found a law firm that would sue us, alleging that our only aim was to mess with their gas royalty contracts. (As if we didn’t have anything better to do.) However, the true purpose of their lawsuit, with its trumped up charges and error-ridden fillings, was clear. They wanted to scare us and scare the local residents into silence. It was a classic SLAPP suit–a strategic lawsuit against public participation.
Fortunately, the SLAPPers success was short-lived. The Council was able to secure representation from the Pennsylvania branch of the ACLU, which immediately recognized the free speech significance of the case and slapped back. The ACLU’s first round of objections were granted. The court ruled that the SLAPPers case was too thin and that they would have to start all over again. And so they did. But in the next round of the fight, the SLAPPers were knocked out for good.
The Council’s victory in this case should provide comfort to concerned residents across the Commonwealth, and even the country. Industry and moneyed interests have always be quick to try to use the courts to bully environmental groups and concerned residents into submission. But at least in this instance, we can say we have the constitution AND the courts on our side. I can now safely say that when residents fight for their environmental rights, and when the Council fights alongside them, we are exercising our free speech rights and we are protected by the U.S. Constitution.
For more information, contact Alex Bomstein at abomstein@cleanair.org or call 215-567-4004 ext 118.
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