Pennsylvania Environmental Legal Questions

I am only licensed to practice law in Ohio, but my advise is for you to contact the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection at the relevant office shown on their website. http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/contacts___directions/20298 Each well has a drilling permit with requirements to prevent this type of problem from occurring.  If the drilling permit requirements have been breached, Penn DEP is required to take appropriate enforcement action. You may also have a private cause of action against the drilling if you can prove that the drilling action "caused" your contamination problem.  For that, contact a qualified environmental attorney licensed to practice in Pennsylvania.  Good luck. Daniel A. Brown, Esq. - Dayton, Ohio... Read Answer

I am only licensed to practice law in Ohio and this is a state law issue.  Consequently, you need to contact a Pennsylvania attorney to discuss the nuances of your state's law on this question. For the sake of comparison, you would have a potential cause of action against your neighbor in Ohio.  The Ohio Supreme Court's decision in McGlashan v. Spade Rockledge Corp., 62 Ohio St. 2d 55 (1980) appears to be the controlling case in support of application of the "reasonable use doctrine." "A possessor of land is not unqualifiedly privileged to deal with surface water as he pleases, nor is he absolutely prohibited from interfering with the natural flow of surface waters to the detriment of others. Each possessor is legally privileged to make a reason able use of his land, even though the flow of surface waters is altered thereby and causes some harm to others. He incurs liability only when his harmful interference with the flow of surface water is unreasonable. In determining the reasonableness of an interference, the trier of fact is to be guided by the rules stated in 4 Restatement on Torts 2d 108-142, Sections 822 831." So, in your case, a court would most likely consider whether your neighbor had any other choice on how to handle the storm water drainage coming onto his property.....other than directing it onto your property. Good luck. Daniel A. Brown - dbrown@brownlawdayton.com... Read Answer