An update in the ongoing case of a proposed injection well in Highland Township (Elk County), PA. In 2013 the radical leftist group Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) convinced ignoramuses in Highland Township to pass a so-called Community Bill of Rights. Seneca Resources, a driller with leases and an active drilling program in Elk, had planned to drill an injection well on their own property to dispose of their own flowback and produced water. The CELDF-inspired ordinance in Highland prevented it, and Seneca threatened to sue the town (see Seneca Resources Threatens to Sue PA Town over Injection Well). Seneca made good and filed to sue, but the town and CELDF tried to block the lawsuit. Didn’t work. The lawsuit advanced. New supervisors were elected and promptly voted to overturn the so-called Community Bill of Rights (see Elk County Town Wises Up, Abandons Effort to Block Injection Well), enraging the nutters. However, last November enough locals remained fleeced to pass a so-called home rule charter which contained language making injection wells illegal. The charter was/is essentially the Community Bill of Rights under a different name and different legal structure. In an effort to extract itself from a legal hellhole of its own making, the new Highland supervisors asked a federal judge to rule in favor of Seneca Resources, but to not make Highland pay legal fees and penalties for delaying the injection well (see PA DEP Issues 2 Wastewater Injection Well Permits, Sues 2 Towns). Last Friday the judge did rule in favor of Seneca, gutting provisions in the home rule charter that attempt to regulate oil and gas (and its waste). It is a legal victory for Seneca Resources and their plan to drill an injection well in Elk County…
