Bill could hold gas companies liable
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The Pittsburgh region needs an "environmental rights renaissance," city Councilman Doug Shields said Wednesday, defending a controversial anti-pollution bill that may not survive into the new year.
With less than two weeks remaining in Mr. Shields' last term, council gave final approval Monday to his bill attempting to hold out-of-town natural gas producers liable for any pollution in the city or poisoning of its residents. It also would attempt to hold accountable federal, state or local governments that licensed the polluters.
"We need an environmental rights renaissance around here," Mr. Shields said, adding that a similar "toxic trespass" law is needed to protect the region's residents from emissions by coal-fired power plants.
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl hasn't stated a position on the legislation, but he vetoed a previous bill, also introduced by Mr. Shields, that banned natural gas production in the city. Council mustered votes to override the veto and implement the ban, but Mr. Shields said he doesn't know whether he has enough support to override a veto of the new bill, designed to protect city residents from production mishaps originating in other municipalities.
If Mr. Ravenstahl vetoes the bill, an override vote would be held Dec. 30.
Industry representatives and others have questioned the legality of the legislation, which was developed with the help of the Franklin County-based Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.
"This short-sighted action, albeit ceremonial, is aimed at generating a few headlines, not common-sense solutions. While some continue to engage in political posturing, our industry is working tirelessly to create good-paying jobs for Pennsylvanians, protect our environment and help drive down our nation's dependence on unstable regions of the world for the energy we need to grow our economy," Kathryn Klaber, president of Marcellus Shale Coalition, a trade group, said in a statement.
The coalition also opposed the production ban, which Mr. Shields developed with the legal defense fund.
Mr. Shields and Ben Price, legal defense fund executive director, said a person would be cited for trespassing if he or she hopped a fence and entered a gas company equipment yard without permission. In the same way, they said, gas producers and government regulators should be held accountable for environmental damage to the city or the absorption of fracking chemicals into residents' bodies.
"It's a two-way street," Mr. Shields said.
In 2008, concerns about uranium production prompted the town council of Halifax, Va., to pass legislation that prohibits mining and the poisoning, or "bodily trespass," of town residents.
The legislation, written with input from the legal defense fund, hasn't been challenged in court. Mr. Price said mining hasn't begun in that part of southern Virginia.
First Published December 23, 2011 12:00 am
