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Timoney Knox partner Kate Harper to present workshop at PBI environmental law forum on natural gas drilling, zoning, land use

Catherine M. “Kate” Harper, a partner at Fort Washington-based Timoney Knox law firm, will speak on Thursday at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Environmental Law seminar in Harrisburg.

 

Harper, of Lower Gwynedd Township, will present the land use and zoning update and will highlight preemption issues raised by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the Marcellus Shale case, Robinson Township v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  The state Supreme Court’s ruling ultimately rejected portions of Act 13 as being unconstitutional and upheld other sections of the act.

Find out what's happening in Montgomeryville-Lansdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

Pennsylvania generates more than $200 million in annual revenue from the legislation, which primarily levies impact fees on unconventional natural gas wells.

Find out what's happening in Montgomeryville-Lansdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

Accompanied by attorney Cliff Levine, Harper will also discuss recent Sunshine Law and Right to Know cases impacting municipal, environmental and land use attorneys.

 

Harper’s discussion is one of a number of topics to be covered at the two-day forum, which continues through Friday. The Pennsylvania Institute is cosponsoring the program with the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s environmental and energy law section.

 

The program will focus on the environmental impact of gas drilling, as well as major federal environmental decisions, the Clean Air Act, renewable energy and more.

 

Harper, who represents the 61st district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and whose law practice focuses on municipal and zoning law, has remained active in environmental issues in Montgomery County and Lower Gwynedd Township where she served as chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors. She is a charter member and past chair of the Montgomery County Lands Trust and is a former chair of the Montgomery County Open Space Planning Board, where she helped create the county’s open space plan.

 

She has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, all of the Pennsylvania appellate courts and the county courts in southeastern Pennsylvania. Harper has represented multiple local governing bodies and authorities and zoning hearing boards throughout her more than 30-year law career.

 

Lawyers participating in the two-day forum, which continues on Friday, can earn up to 12 CLE credits. The all-day sessions will be held at the Harrisburg Hilton and Towers, 1 N. Second St. in Harrisburg. For more information on the Environmental Law Forum, click here.

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