The gas industry has dropped a lawsuit against a Warren County community that's trying to avoid becoming a dumping ground for the wastewater generated by Marcellus shale gas extraction.
Columbus Township passed an ordinance that prohibited the underground disposal of toxic liquids inside its boundaries unless the liquids were generated inside the township. David Goodwill, chairman of the township's board of supervisors, said previously that Columbus has several old wells that the gas industry wants to use as disposal sites for fracking liquids and other contaminated water.
The Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association, based in Marshall, sued the township in September in Erie federal court, claiming that the ordinance violates the U.S. Constitution's interstate commerce clause.
Christopher Nestor, a lawyer representing PIOGA, said the association dropped the lawsuit because the township on Tuesday repealed the ordinance. Township officials couldn't be reached for comment.
