Pennsylvania General Energy Co. v. Grant Township

139 F. Supp. 3d 706, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139921, 2015 WL 6001882
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 14, 2015
DocketC.A. No. 14-209ERIE
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 139 F. Supp. 3d 706 (Pennsylvania General Energy Co. v. Grant Township) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pennsylvania General Energy Co. v. Grant Township, 139 F. Supp. 3d 706, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139921, 2015 WL 6001882 (W.D. Pa. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SUSAN PARADISE BAXTER,1 United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiff Pennsylvania General Energy Company, LLC, (“PGE”) filed this action challenging the constitutionality, validity and enforceability of an ordinance adopted by Grant Township that established a so-called Community Bill of Rights. Plaintiff seeks injunctive and declaratory relief, as well as damages, against Defendant Grant Township on the grounds that the Ordinance purports to strip Plaintiff of its constitutional rights. Additionally, Plaintiff contends the Ordinance is in direct conflict with a number of Pennsylvania statutes and is therefore preempted. Defendant Grant Township has filed a counterclaim alleging that by challenging the Ordinance, PGE is violating the inalienable rights of the people of its Township to “local community self government.” Presently before this Court are the cross motions for judgment on the pleadings, which have been fully briefed.

Plaintiff PGE is a Pennsylvania limited liability company with offices in Warren, Pennsylvania. ECF No. 5, Amended Complaint, ¶ 1. PGE is in the business of exploration and development of oil and gas. Id. PGE’s exploration and development activities include drilling and operating oil and natural gas wells and managing brine and produced fluids generated from operating wells. Id. at 18. The operation of oil and gas wells unavoidably requires engaging in the activity of “disposing of waste from oil and gas extraction” since any producing hydrocarbon well produces oil and gas materials, such as production brine, which must be stored at the well site temporarily until they are removed by the well operator. Id. at ¶ 28.

In 1997, Pennsylvania General Energy Corp., PGE’s predecessor in interest, put into production a deep gas well in Grant Township on property known as the Yanity Farm pursuant to Well Permit No. 37-063-31807-00-00 (hereinafter referred to as the “Yanity Well”) issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Id. at ¶ 19. PGE currently has tanks located on the Yanity Well site used for the storage of. oil and gas materials. Id. at ¶ 20. PGE intends to use the Yanity Well to inject produced fluids from its other oil and gas development operations. Id. at ¶26. PGE operates seven other currently producing conventional hydrocarbon wells in Grant Township, all of [711]*711which have appropriate active DEP permits. Id. at ¶ 27.

Defendant Grant Township, a Second Class Township located in Indiana County, Pennsylvania (Id. at ¶ 2), adopted an Ordinance on June 3, 2014, that bears a title reading an ordinance “establishing a Community Bill of Rights for' the people of Grant Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, which prohibits activities and projects that would violate the Bill of Rights and which provides for enforcement of the Bill of Rights” (hereinafter, the “Community Bill of Rights Ordinance” or “Ordinance”). Id. at 7. The Ordinance lays out the framers’ beliefs that corporations should not have more rights than the people of its community and that the people have the right to regulate all activities pursuant, to a right of local self government. ECF No. 5-1, page l.2 The Ordinance also enumerates “legal” rights of the people, including self government, a clean and sustainable environment and a right of enforcement, among others. ECF No. 5-1. page 2. Specific prohibitions under the Ordinance, including prohibiting the right to challenge it in the courts, are enumerated in the remaining sections of the Ordinance. ECF No. 5-1.

Standard of Review for Judgment on the Pleadings pursuant to Federal Rule 12(c)

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c) provides that “after the pleadings are closed — but early enough not to delay trial — a party may move for judgment on the pleadings.” Judgment on the pleadings is appropriate only when the movant “ ‘clearly establishes that no material issue of fact remains' to be resolved and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.’ ” Minnesota Lawyers Mut. Ins. Co. v. Ahrens, 432 Fed.Appx, 143, 147 (3d Cir.2011) quoting Rosenau v. Unifund Corp., 539 F.3d 218, 221 (3d Cir.2008).

“The standard for deciding a motion for judgment on the pleadings filed pursuant tp Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c), is not materially different from the standard for deciding a motion to dismiss filed pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).” Zion v. Nassan, 283 F.R.D. 247, 254 (W.D.Pa.2012). Either motion may be used to seek the dismissal of a complaint based on a plaintiffs “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), (h)(2)(B). The only difference between the two motions.is.that a Rule 12(b) motion must be made before a “responsive pleading” is filed, whereas, a Rule 12(c) motion can be made ,“[a]fter the pleadings are closed.” A court presented with a motion for judgment on3 the pleadings must consider the plaintiffs complaint, the defendant’s answer, and any written instruments or exhibits attached to the pleadings. Perelman v. Perelman, 919 [712]*712F.Supp.2d 512, 521 (E.D.Pa.2013). See also 2 James Wm, Moore et al., Moore’s Federal Practice-Civil ¶ 12.38 (2010); Pension Benefit Guar. Corp. v. White Consol. Indus. Inc., 998 F.2d 1192, 1196-97 (3d Cir.1993) (court sho.uld consider the allegations in the pleadings, the ..attached exhibits, matters of public record, and.“undis-putedly authentic” documents if plaintiffs claims are based on such documents). Therefore, a review of the standard for a motion to dismiss is in order here.

A motion to dismiss filed pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) must be viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and all the well-pleaded allegations' of the complaint must be accepted as true. ’ Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 93-94, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007). A complaint must be dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) if it does not allege “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (rejecting the traditional 12(b)(6) standard set forth in Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). See also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (specifically applying Twombly analysis beyond the context of the Sherman Act).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Ferner v. State
2020 Ohio 4698 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2020)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
139 F. Supp. 3d 706, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139921, 2015 WL 6001882, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pennsylvania-general-energy-co-v-grant-township-pawd-2015.