PennFuture's law staff provides low cost legal services to citizens, fishing and hunting groups and conservation organizations throughout Pennsylvania so that they may have a voice in decisions that impact their health and welfare, and the environment. The law staff offers a wide range of services to its members and clients, including counseling, advocacy before state agencies, and representation in litigation to protect the public's right to a clean, healthy environment.

In many situations, PennFuture's law staff serves as a watchdog over regulatory agencies, filing comments and action letters to guarantee that Pennsylvania's environment and economy are protected to the fullest extent of the law.  Please see the  Comments and Action Letters section for a compilation of those activities.

In other cases, we file court actions to force legal compliance from polluters.  Please see below for information on all court cases we are currently undertaking.

Past and present clients have included the Pennsylvania Chapter of Trout Unlimited, the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, Inc., the National Audubon Society, the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club, numerous watershed associations and citizen action groups. If you have an environmental legal problem you would like PennFuture to consider, please contact our law staff at any of our offices or send an email to lawstaff@pennfuture.org.

 



Case Name Summary
Bruce Mansfield Power Plant Air Pollution Reduce air pollution from coal-fired power plant (More Details)

Covington Industrial Park Construction Stormwater Discharge Permit Appeal Protect critical natural resources, including high quality streams and exceptional value wetlands, from stormwater discharges associated with the construction of a large warehouse development. (More Details)

DCNR Smith Mine Discharges Protect Laurel Run, a High Quality stream, from inadequately treated discharges of mine drainage coming from the Smith Mine, a reclaimed clay mine located on property owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and managed by DCNR and part of the Ohiopyle State Park. (More Details)

Harveys Lake Dredging Permit Protecting endangered plant species and requiring accurate measurement and adequate mitigation of wetland disturbance by challenging a DEP water obstruction and encroachment permit that allows dredging of inlet. (More Details)

Hays Woods Strip Mine Proposal PennFuture is working with citizens opposed to a strip mine on the single largest unprotected green space within the city of Pittsburgh. (More Details)

Kreider Dairy Farms Protection of water from manure-related pollution at Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO or factory farm)site. (More Details)

Laurel Run Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Water Permit Protecting Laurel Run by seeking changes to proposed amendment to 2003 Final TMDL for Laurel Run. (More Details)

Mandamus Action regarding Odor Regulations Seeks to compel the State Conservation Commission to promulgate interim and final regulations regarding odor management at certain agricultural operations for barns and manure storage facilities as required under the ACRE legislation. (More Details)

Mount Pocono Municipal Authority Water Permit Renewal Challenge delay in renewing NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) wastewater discharge permit that expired in September 2001, and comment on draft NPDES permit to ensure that degradation of stream segment is alleviated. (More Details)

PECO Energy Company’s Petition to purchase Alternative Energy Credits for Banking under the AEPS Act This case is the first instance of a company seeking to purchase 450,000 non-solar Tier I alternative energy credits annually, for a five-year period to be banked for future compliance with the AEPS Act. The Office of Small Business Advocate opposed PECO’s proposed plan by urging the PUC to adopt two narrow interpretations of the Act. PennFuture intervened and filed a brief supporting PECO’s proposal. At stake is not only important interpretations of the statute, but also a significant procurement of credits that will promote development of alternative sources of energy in the PJM territory (More Details)

Pennsylvania Coal Mine Bonding Program -- 1999 Citizen Suit To ensure that Pennsylvania's bonding program meets minimum federal standards for guaranteeing reclamation of the land and perpetual treatment of post-mining discharges of acid mine drainage pollution. (More Details)

Pennsylvania Coal Mine Bonding Program -- Review of Federal Agency Actions Ensure that Pennsylvania's bonding program for coal mines meets the minimum standards of federal law, and specifically the requirement of 30 C.F.R. § 800.11(e)(1) that an alternative bonding system “must assure that the regulatory authority will have available sufficient money to complete the reclamation plan for any areas which may be in default at any time.” (More Details)

Pocono Township Sewage Treatment Plant Discharge Permit Appeal Protect the Brodhead Creek, a cold water fishery, from potentially degrading wastewater discharges, and the Pocono and Cranberry Creeks, high quality, cold water fisheries, from potentially degrading stormwater discharges, authorized under NPDES Permit No. PA006515 (More Details)

Rohrer Farms, LLC Ensure proper permitting and remediation of existing swine bars. PennFuture filed comments on the application for a Water Quality (WQM) Permit. (More Details)

Scranton Stormwater/Flooding Case Mitigate stormwater runoff from a poorly designed upgradient development that is causing flooding problems for a downgradient community. (More Details)

UMCO Energy, Inc. v. DEP and PennFuture UMCO appealed, to the Commonwealth Court, the Environmental Hearing Board’s decision that refused to allow the mining company to longwall mine beneath a perennial stream because mining would permanently harm the hydrologic balance of the stream. UMCO contests three legal issues that implicate the Clean Streams Law and Bituminous Mine Subsidence and Land Conservation Act. (More Details)

West Pikeland Township Exceptional Value Committee In considering whether to endorse a petition by Green Valleys Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania to upgrade the Pickering Creek and associated tributaries in Chester County from their existing designation of High Quality (HQ), Trout Stocking Fisheries (TSF), to a new designation of Exceptional Value (EV), West Pikeland Township asked PennFuture to sit on the West Pikeland Township Exceptional Value Committee to evaluate the factual issues and to offer a recommendation. (More Details)