Lower Merion, Others Sue PA Over Plastic Bag Ban Limitations

LOWER MERION, PA — Lower Merion Township and three other municipalities have filed suit against the state in an effort to uphold their bans on plastic bags.

Lower Merion, Narberth Borough, West Chester City, and Philadelphia Wednesday announced proactive litigation to assert their right to enact and enforce plastic bag legislation.

The suit asks the court to declare unconstitutional a measure passed in May last year by the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

The measure bars local governments in Pennsylvania to "enact or enforce a law, rule, regulation or ordinance imposing a tax on or relation to the use, disposition, sale, prohibition or restriction of single-use plastics."

Plaintiffs argue the measure is unconstitutional for several reasons.

Among them is that it violates Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which provides that "[t]he people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people."

Additionally, the suit argues that the manner in which the legislature passed Section 1706-E(d) of Act 23 violated other provisions of the Constitution regarding legislative procedures.

Lower Merion's efforts to pass a single-use plastic ban have been stalled by the state.

A survey conducted by the Lower Merion Conservancy regarding plastic bags showed 96.7 percent of the 629 respondents support "efforts to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags."

"Plastic bags clog sewage and storm drains and break down into toxic micro plastics that pollute our oceans and hang out in landfills for up to one thousand years, according to the conservancy. "Successful ordinances have reduced plastic bags in storm drains by up to 89%, in rivers by 60%, and in residential areas by 59%."

Philadelphia, West Chester, and Narberth have already passed plastic bag bans.

According to Billy Penn, PennEnvironment Executive Director David Masur accused state politicians of "doing the dirty work for the plastic industry."