PITTSBURGH — The American Civil Liberties Union now is involved in a lawsuit regarding the gas drilling controversy in Middlesex Township.

The ACLU is demanding that developer Dewey Homes and Investment Properties and 12 Marcellus shale gas lease holders drop their lawsuit against those who challenged the Middlesex zoning ordinance amendment that pertains to gas and oil drilling.

The developer and the leaseholders, who own a collective 443 acres leased to gas drilling companies, filed a suit in Butler County Court on May 22 that claims they are being deprived of the financial gain they would have realized had the zoning ordinance not been challenged and operations at the Bob and Kim Geyer well on Denny Road been allowed to proceed.

The Clean Air Council, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and four Middlesex citizens challenged the township zoning ordinance because it would have allowed shale gas operations in most of the township. They particularly oppose the five wells planned for the Geyer farm because they are within .6 miles of the Mars School District school property.

The ACLU said the suit by the developer and 11 leaseholders is a strategic lawsuit against public participation, a SLAPP suit, that is meant to intimidate those who speak out against a government entity or their actions in accordance with their rights under the First Amendment.

According to the ACLU's letter to the developer and leaseholders, the challenge to the Middlesex zoning ordinance is protected by the First Amendment right to petition the government.

“If the First Amendment stands for anything, it means people have the right to protest government actions by speaking out, organizing like-minded citizens and using established legal processes without getting sued for their political and legal activism,” said Witold Walczak, the legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania and one of the defendent's attorneys.

If the lawsuit is not dropped, the ACLU will seek legal sanctions against the developer and leaseholders, which could include shifting ACLU's fees and costs onto the plaintiffs or compensation for the defendants for emotional distress as a result of the suit.

Walczak explained that the sanctions would be imposed by the judge when the suit is concluded.