Energy Shareholders Alan M. Seltzer and John F. Povilaitis Publish Article on Fracking in Law360

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Energy Shareholders Alan M. Seltzer and John F. Povilaitis tend to agree with Charles Dickens’ and one of the most widely known openings in all of English literature, but in a different time period: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." In their latest article published in Law360, Seltzer and Povilaitis explore the wildly inconsistent public perspectives of natural gas hydraulic technology and how the industry is becoming a real life "tale of two cities."

They note that fracking has either been viewed by the public as the "source of state and national energy and economic independence, gas-fired electricity generation, carbon reduction and wealth the likes of which have not been seen for decades, or has laid the groundwork for environmental destruction and an unwanted shift from clean and sustainable sources for energy production."

The Law360 article covers the recent court decisions in Robinson Township v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and City of Munroe Falls v. Beck Energy Corporation et al. to illustrate the different approaches used by Pennsylvania and Ohio courts in resolving challenges to each state’s efforts to regulate oil and gas fracking.

"In the end, we are left with rationalizing two patently different outcomes in Pennsylvania and Ohio with respect to the attempts by state legislators to create uniformity in treatment for oil and gas fracking operations," they write. 

Read the full article – "Fracking: ‘A Shale of Two Cities’" (Law360, March 12, 2015) Subscription required.