Clean Air Council Files Pennsylvania Supreme Court Brief Supporting State’s Authority to Penalize Polluters
(PHILADELPHIA — Wednesday, May 10, 2017) Today, Clean Air Council filed a brief in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that seeks to hold polluters accountable for their actions, and to ensure that Pennsylvania’s waters are protected to the fullest extent possible under the state’s Clean Streams Law.
The Council’s brief supports the PA Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) authority to penalize fracking company EQT for its spill of fracked wastewater in 2012, and for any subsequent flow of industrial waste into Pennsylvania’s waters. The evidence suggests that industrial waste has entered into the waters, killing fish and vegetation. Unfortunately, the Commonwealth Court (the lower court) ruled that EQT could only be penalized for the few days when its industrial waste first leaked from its facility, rather than for the entire time when its waste continued to flow into the waters of the Commonwealth. The Council believes that the Commonwealth Court’s ruling undermines the deterrent effect that the Clean Streams Law is supposed to have on future polluters.
“The Clean Streams Law is the state’s bedrock clean water law, and the DEP must have the full authority to penalize polluters like EQT,” said Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Executive Director and Chief Counsel, Clean Air Council. “Without the full deterrent effect of the penalties for continuing violations under the law, polluters will not change their actions and Pennsylvania’s waters will continue to be contaminated. The Council’s brief urges the Supreme Court to issue a decision that protects our waters, which are essential for healthy communities, tourism, fishing, recreation, and industries that rely on clean water.”
As the Council argued in its brief, the state’s Clean Streams Law is meant to protect and restore to a clean, unpolluted condition every stream in Pennsylvania – in accordance with the values articulated in the Environmental Rights Amendment, which protects the people’s right to pure water. The Clean Streams Law clearly states that polluters like EQT should be penalized for each day that the DEP can prove that the company continued to permit its pollutants to flow into any waters of the Commonwealth.
The brief was filed in EQT Production Company v. Department of Environmental Protection, No. 6 MAP 2017. While the Clean Air Council is not a party in the case, it filed the brief as an amicus curiae, meaning “friend of the court.”
About Clean Air Council
Clean Air Council is Pennsylvania’s oldest member-supported environmental nonprofit, fighting for everyone’s right to breathe clean air since 1967. Through research, public education and advocacy, the Council empowers citizens to fight for policies and practices that create healthier communities and a healthier environment. For more information about Clean Air Council, visit www.cleanair.org.
Contact: Christopher Ahlers, Clean Air Council – cahlers@cleanair.org, 215-567-4004, x 125
