Range Resources is building a shale gas well along a ridge a few hundred feet from the popular trail. A pipeline right-of-way, about 50 feet wide, has been cut through a wooded section that hikers will see as they pass by.
At the center of the lawsuit is Pennsylvania's Environmental Rights Amendment that gives people the right to clean air and water and preservation of the environment.
A group of residents in Westmoreland County hopes a judge will halt expansion of gas drilling in their township, and will throw out a zoning ordinance that allows drilling in most of the community.
