Last month, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted oral argument in Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation v. Wolf, No. 10 MAP 2015, a case involving the Environmental Rights Amendment, Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. The two issues to be addressed at oral argument are: the proper standards for judicial review of government actions and legislation challenged under the Environmental Rights Amendment in light of Robinson Township v. Commonwealth, 3 A.3d 901 (Pa. 2013) (plurality), and the constitutionality of certain Fiscal Code provisions and the General Assembly’s transfers from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund. The court’s resolution of these issues may have a profound effect on the management of the state’s natural resources.
To understand the importance of these two issues, a brief background may be helpful. Historically, the common-law “public trust doctrine” provided limited protection for certain public resources by requiring the government to act as trustee of all lands subject to the ebb and flow of the tide and all waters navigable in fact.
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