Sep 25, 2014 2 min read

Range Resources officials won’t be permitted to view documents from Cecil Township that the natural drilling company insisted shows municipal officials held private meetings and made decisions behind closed doors.

Washington County Judge Katherine Emery ruled Thursday afternoon against Range’s appeal of last year’s decision by the state Office of Open Records in which the company said it was not given enough documents from a right-to-know request in 2012.

The township released some information to Range Dec. 10, 2012, but declined to provide other documents and cited attorney-client privilege. Township officials also said the request was “overly broad in its scope and burdensome.” Range appealed that response to the state Office of Open Records, which denied its claim in March 2013.

Emery agreed with the decisions, writing in her 15-page order that Range demanding all documents with “any employees, agents, or representatives thereof” cast too wide a net for the township to adequately comply.

“The demand is a broad sweep of any records remotely related to Range … and would place a substantial burden on Cecil,” Emery wrote.

Cecil Township Board of Supervisors Chairman Andy Schrader lauded the ruling and said Range’s request was so vague it appeared to be fishing for irrelevant information.

“We basically gave them everything we had and we didn’t think there was any basis to it,” Schrader said. “Their right-to-know request was spread so far apart.”

Range spokesman Matt Pitzarella could not immediately be reached for comment late Thursday afternoon. He previously said in April 2013 that the company hoped to review the documents for “transparency” reasons.