Governor Without Authority to Disturb Legislative Scheme

An executive order issued by the governor of Pennsylvania in 1989 required the Department of Environmental Resources to stop reviewing applications or issuing permits for new municipal waste landfills and resource recovery facilities until the state waste management plan was adopted. The order also established maximum and average waste volume limits for each landfill. The national Solid Wastes Management Association said the order was invalid because the state constitution did not give the governor the authority to issue such orders. The state argued that the governor's authority rested on Article I, Section 27 of the state constitution, which guaranteed the people the right to clean air and pure water. The court said this constitutional section did not give the governor authority to disturb the legislative scheme.