Law360 (November 14, 2019, 5:23 PM EST) — A western Pennsylvania town didn’t have to give extra weight to the “temporary” effects of building and drilling hydraulically fractured gas wells when considering its zoning laws, a state appellate court said Thursday.

As Penn Township crafted its “mineral extraction overlay” district covering half the municipality, where fracking could be allowed after a site-by-site review, it didn’t have to consider shale gas wells a heavy industrial use because the construction and drilling on a well site was brief compared to the overall life of the well, the Commonwealth Court panel said. In addition, a Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas judge did not have to consider that temporary use as grounds to send the zoning rules back to the drawing board, the panel said.

Gas Well Construction Effects Only ‘Temporary’ Court Says – Law360