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 residents who challenged the Middlesex zoning ordinance amendment for 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 Mars School District property.

The ACLU said the suit by the developer and the 12 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 its actions in accordance with their rights under the First Amendment.

“This is the ugliest kind of lawsuit, It is intended to terrorize people into abandoning their legal rights,” said Delaware Riverkeeper attorney Maya van Rossum.

“Pennsylvania communities are already suffering at the hands of fracking and drilling operations. We should not now have to endure the heavy hand of threats and intimidation simply for exercising our constitutional rights to freedom of speech and ensuring a healthy environment.”

Joseph Minott, executive director and chief counsel for the Clean Air Council, called the lawsuit by the developer and leaseholders' a blatant SLAPP suit.

“The suit was brought to intimidate people into giving up their constitutional rights,” Minott said. “Parents have a right to voice opposition to fracking where it poses a real health risk to their children.”

Minott said he will work with those named in the “absurd lawsuit” to ensure that “people's right to free speech and to clean air and water are protected.”

According to the ACLU's letter to the developer and leaseholders, the challenge to the 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 defendant's attorneys.

If the lawsuit is not dropped, the ACLU said it 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 said that the sanctions would be imposed by the judge when the suit is concluded.

Neither Richard Sandow nor Ronald Amrhein of the Pittsburgh law firm Jones Gregg Creehan and Gerace, who filed the suit on behalf of the developer and leaseholders, were available for comment Tuesday on the ACLU's demands.

Rex Energy has suspended work at the Geyer well pad after a stay was handed down from Butler County Court Judge Michael Yeager, who is hearing the appeal by the challengers to the zoning hearing board's decision to uphold the zoning amendment.

Sound barrier walls, well pad preparation, and well casings have been completed at the Geyer site.

In addition to the environmental groups, four Middlesex residents challenged the zoning amendment. They are David Denk, Jennifer Chomicki, Anthony Lapina and Joann Groman.

The leaseholders suing the challengers are Mark Vinson, Matthew Vinson, Joseph Elm, Mark Gissendaner, Bradley Kress, Brian Kress, Albert and Charlotte McKee, Dean and Sharon Weigle, Ronald Molinaro and Jean Utz.