By Don Hopey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Butler County judge has dismissed a case in which 13 Middlesex Township oil and shale gas leaseholders claimed they were denied the opportunity to make money from selling their mineral rights and sought damages from drilling opponents.
The leaseholders lawsuit alleged that the actions of the drilling opponents, including legal appeals of a zoning hearing board decision, were a “sham” intended only to delay and interfere with their leases, and sought damages in excess of $500,000.
The defendants, five individuals and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and the Clean Air Council, argued that the lawsuit was without merit because their actions were constitutionally protected speech. Their attorney, Witold “Vic” Walczak, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union, told the court during a May 19 hearing that the lawsuit was a “SLAPP suit” — a strategic lawsuit against public participation — aimed at penalizing and chilling legally protected comments and appeals.
Common Pleas Judge S. Michael Yeager, in a ruling dated May 26, agreed that the drilling opponents “engaged in protected activity,” and dismissed the personal injury land use case “in its entirety, with prejudice.”
Mr. Walczak, the lead defense attorney on the case, said the ruling confirmed that under the First Amendment, “people who speak out and organize against government activity cannot be sued for engaging in these time-honored political and legal hallmarks of our democracy.”
Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, said efforts to try to scare the drilling opponents were proven wrong by the decision. “Judge Yeager has sent an important message that SLAPP suits designed to silence will not be tolerated,” Ms. van Rossum said.
Drilling opponents had appealed a township zoning change in September 2014 that allowed the drilling and hydraulic fracturing of six shale gas wells on the Geyer well pad, located along Route 228, less than a mile from the Mars School District campus where 3,200 students attend classes. Two of the wells have been drilled. Fracking is scheduled for this summer.
An earlier personal injury lawsuit brought by the same group of leaseholders and alleging the same damages from the same opponents was dismissed by Butler County Judge Marilyn K. Horan in October for failure to cite specifics, but that decision allowed the suit to be amended and refiled. Judge Yeager’s decision does not allow the leaseholders to refile on the same issue.
Attorney Richard Sandow, who represented the leaseholders in both lawsuits, did not return a call requesting comment. The leaseholders, including Dewey homes and Investment Properties LLC, have contracts with Dale Properties, LP; Range Resources; and R.E. Gas Development LLC, a subsidiary of Rex Energy.