PA ENV. DEFENSE FOUNDATION v. COM.

No. 10 MAP 2015.

161 A.3d 911 (2017)

PENNSYLVANIA ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FOUNDATION, Appellant v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, and Governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, in his official capacity as Governor, Appellees.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

DECIDED: June 20, 2017.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Thomas Y. Au, Esq. , Diana Csank, Esq. , for Sierra Club, Amicus Curiae.

Thomas G. Collins, Esq. , Kevin Patrick Lucas, Esq. , David James Porter, Esq. , Buchanan lngersoll & Rooney, P.C., for Republican Caucuses of the PA House of Representatives and PA Senate, Amicus Curiae.

John C. Dernbach, Esq. , for Widener University Law School Environmental Law and Sustainability Center, Amicus Curiae.

Matthew Hermann Haverstick, Esq. , Mark Edward Seiberling, Esq. , Joshua John Voss, Esq. , for Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, Amicus Curiae.

George Jugovic Jr., Esq. , for Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, Penn Future, Amicus Curiae.

Kevin Jon Moody, Esq. , Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association, for PA Independent Oil & Gas Association, Amicus Curiae.

Jordan Berson Yeager, Esq. , Curtin & Eleefner LLP, for Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Pennsylvania Land Trust Association, Amicus Curiae.

John E. Childe Jr., Esq. , for Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation, Appellant.

Sean Martin Concannon, Esq. , Office of General Counsel, Stephen S. Aichele, Esq. , Audrey F. Miner, Esq. , Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources (DCNR), for Wolf, Tom, Appellee.

Howard Greeley Hopkirk, Esq. , Office of Attorney General, for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Appellee.

Gregory R. Neuhauser, Esq. , PA Office of Attorney General, for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Wolf, Tom, Appellees.

SAYLOR, C.J., EAKIN, BAER, TODD, DONOHUE, DOUGHERTY, WECHT, JJ.


OPINION

JUSTICE DONOHUE

In 1971, by a margin of nearly four to one, the people of Pennsylvania ratified a proposed amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution's Declaration of Rights, formally and forcefully recognizing their environmental rights as commensurate with their most sacred political and individual rights. Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution provides:

The people have a right to clean...

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