Views shared on both sides about drilling

Butler Eagle, March 18, 2015

MIDDLESEX TWP — While strong, opposing opinions were shared Tuesday night with the township zoning hearing board, the crowd of about 300 remained calm and cordial. Board President George Born read a list of rules previous to the two-hour public comment session, and got his point across that no inappropriate behavior would be tolerated. “We’d like everyone to be courteous and to the point,” Born said. “We have two distinguished members of the Middlesex Police Department here, and we’d rather not use their services.” The hearing is the result of a challenge to a gas and oil amendment to the township zoning ordinance passed in August by the supervisors. Four Middlesex residents plus the Philadelphia-based environmental groups the Clean Air Council and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network are challenging the zoning amendment saying it allows unconventional gas drilling operations in much of the township. Attorneys from the township, Rex Energy and MarkWest Energy Partners support the amendment. The challenge caused a halt to the work on the five Rex Energy gas wells at the Bob and Kim Geyer farm on Denny Road, which a group of Mars School District parents have protested because they say shale gas drilling operations would pose a health and safety hazard to the students in the nearby Mars schools. The eighth session of the hearing Tuesday had about 34 people take three minutes each to share their thoughts with the board on the ordinance amendment or shale gas drilling in the township in general. Luke Fritz, a lifelong township resident who farms 325 acres, said the ordinance amendment is well thought out and in the best interest of the township. He said as the fracking industry has progressed and technology has increased, so has efficiency. Fritz said Pennsylvania has some of the strictest shale gas regulations in the nation and property owners should feel lucky to be involved in gas extraction. “We are blessed, and we need to realize it,” Fritz said. He said those who oppose the ordinance are wasting time that could be spent extracting gas. “For many of us here in this room, time is a very valuable commodity,” Fritz said. “I’m not sure it’s in our best interest to waste our time like this.” Joanne Groman said a bank told her that it is not extending home equity loans to people with gas leases, and that it is reviewing mortgages in areas being fracked for gas. “If people can’t get mortgages to buy our home, what do we do then?” Groman said. “Your home is your biggest asset.” She also said she worries that well pad operations will affect her water well. Chris Passione, who is an engineer in shale gas drilling, told the board that much has changed in shale gas drilling over the years. He said many tools now use air compression instead of fuel to protect groundwater, and if a spill occurs, the operation is shut down and the spill is immediately cleaned up. He said fracking will not affect the groundwater that is 4,000 feet above the shale gas being extracted. “There are really no groundwater concerns, in my opinion,” Passione said. Tracy Gillam took exception with many of the speakers supporting the ordinance who stated that they were lifelong residents or had descended from generations of township residents. “I’m lifelong resident of United States,” Gillam said. She encouraged board members not to make their decision based on residents’ longevity in the township. Janice Kennedy said 90 percent of township properties have signed gas leases. “That ought to explain to you how the people in this township feel,” Kennedy said. She said township supervisor Chairman Mike Spreng said at a township meeting several years ago that shale gas drilling was coming, and that he attended seminars on the matter before voting for the amendment. “As a landowner in Middlesex Township with a current gas lease, I support the supervisors’ actions, and I hope you gentlemen will also support what they’ve done for the township,” Kennedy said. Joseph Elm accused the Clean Air Council and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, which he called “outside agitators,” of “pursuing a political agenda and trying to tell me what I can and cannot do with my property.” “They’re not going to be here five years from now, but I’ll still be here paying my taxes and voting,” Elm said. Michael Mykita countered those comments, saying the gas companies are not residents either. Mykita also mentioned previous testimony that revealed that Rex Energy asked township officials to pass an ordinance regarding shale gas drilling. He said corporations should not be allowed to influence township zoning. “Don’t let them write us a check, and we write the zoning to please them,” Mykita said. Kim Geyer told the board that the supervisors acted within the limits imposed by the Legislature through Act 13, which is the state’s gas and oil act. She said Act 13 contains setbacks, stringent environmental standards and other criteria that must be met before a property can be used for gas and oil activities. Geyer also mentioned testimony at a previous hearing that zoning amendments regarding shale gas operations are not unusual in Pennsylvania. “Two hundred and fifty three other townships have amended their ordinances to accommodate gas well drilling,” Geyer said. Ping Pirrung told the board members that the amendment was passed in haste, and that the shale gas drilling industry has not been around long enough to determine the long-term health and environmental ramifications. “There are no independent reports showing how safe it is,” Pirrung said. She said residents appreciate the township’s rural character and the supervisors are charged with protecting its “safe and unspoiled” landscape. “Dotting it with unconventional gas wells does not maintain its rural character,” she said. The remainder of Tuesday night’s lengthy proceedings had the challengers’ attorney, Jordan Yeager, cross examine an air quality expert called by Rex Energy, and township solicitor Michael Hnath call Jane Hawkins Peterson as a witness. Upon Hnath’s questioning, Peterson shared her contention that the Rex Energy money she and her five siblings have received allowed them to pay estate taxes on their 80-acre Harbison Road farm when their father died in 2008. She said the family has been approached numerous times by developers looking to buy the farm to build residential housing. Peterson said the family has been able to reject those offers because of their leases with Rex Energy and MarkWest, which will place a gas pipeline on the edge of the farm. The hearing adjourned at 10:40 p.m. after six hours. Another hearing is set for 4:30 p.m. March 31 at the township fire hall. Zoning board solicitor Mike Gallagher said a decision is expected at a public hearing in late April – See more at: http://www.butlereagle.com/article/20150318/NEWS01/703189868#sthash.S2SCVgW5.dpuf