Pennsylvania GOP Senators Blocked From Challenging Fracking Ban

Republican Pennsylvania state senators failed to show that they were harmed by a moratorium on fracking in the Delaware River basin, and therefore their claims against the commission that announced it should be dismissed, a federal court in the state ruled.

Sens. Gene Yaw and Lisa Baker, and the Pennsylvania Senate Republican Caucus argued the moratorium imposed by the Delaware River Basin Commission “usurps legislative authority from the General Assembly,” and it has “substantially diminished” their legislative powers.

But the “powers” allegedly impaired are vested in either the General Assembly or in the Commonwealth, not individual legislators or their party ...