Community Rights Legislation May Be Tested in State College, Pennsylvania
A fight is brewing in State College, PA over the proposed installation of a two-mile, 12-inch natural gas distribution pipeline through the borough’s Highlands neighborhood to Penn State’s West Campus steam plant. The proposal riled community activists and the Borough Council, resulting in the Borough Council passing a resolution on April 1, 2013 directing the Borough Manager to not issue a street opening permit, or any other permits related to the proposed pipeline, to the gas distribution company.
An additional complicating factor is that the Borough adopted a charter amendment in 2011 based upon a model drafted by the Community Environmental Legal defense Fund (CELDF). CELDF model based enactments contain controversial provisions, including a “bill of rights” protecting “natural communities and ecosystems” for borough citizens and a provision stripping corporations of all rights granted under the Pennsylvania and United States Constitutions. The charter amendment also prohibits the construction of new infrastructure, including pipelines, for non-sustainable energy sources and purports to override state and federal government preemption of local ordinances and prohibits corporations from challenging the validity of ordinances or the charter amendment. According to the borough’s solicitor, challenges to the permit denial and the charter amendment appear to be imminent.