Forest Hills, PA Council members are supporting a ban on Marcellus gas drilling within their borders. Forest Hills is a small borough in Allegheny County, PA with a population of 6,500. A petition with 275 signatures requesting a ban was delivered to Council members and apparently 4 percent of residents is close enough to a majority for Forest Hills elected representatives to take immediate action.
Range Resources, one of the largest Marcellus Shale drillers in Pennsylvania, and the first to sink a Marcellus well in the state in 2003, is pushing back against what it calls “death by a thousand paper cuts” – townships imposing their own regulations on drilling that result in a de facto ban on drilling. Range has just filed an appeal with the zoning hearing board in South Fayette (Allegheny County), PA challenging the township’s zoning regulations prohibiting drilling. Range says if the hearing board does not reverse course, it will take the township to court. A copy of Range’s 35-page challenge filed with the hearing board is embedded below.
UPDATE: Also embedded below is a full copy of the drilling ordinance passed by South Fayette Township in 2010. Thank you to MDN reader Josh Whetzel for suggesting we include it with this article.
Read More “Range Resources Fights PA Town Ordinance, Threatens Lawsuit”
Pittsburgh City Councilman Doug Shields, who will soon be leaving office, is staunchly anti-drilling. He led the successful effort to have hydraulic fracturing and shale gas drilling banned in the City of Pittsburgh. The ban was enacted by City Council last November. Now that Mr. Shields has landed on the happy shores of no drilling, he wants to burn the ships to ensure future Council members can’t undo all of his good work. His method? Amend the City’s Home Rule Charter to permanently ban drilling anywhere in the city limits.
Mr. Shields has proposed a measure be put on the ballot in November to let voters decide if the Charter should be amended. There’s just one small problem: It’s probably not legal.
Read More “Proposed Pittsburgh Permanent Drilling Ban May Not be Legal”
Two activist environmental organizations, Clean Water Action and Three Rivers Waterkeeper, are attempting to make a federal case against the McKeesport (Allegheny County) municipal sewage treatment plant that in the past has accepted hydraulic fracturing wastewater because the plant won’t categorically commit to never accepting fracking wastewater again. Here’s the very confusing setup from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Pittsburgh, PA enacted an ordinance banning hydraulic fracturing and Marcellus gas drilling some eight months ago. Leading the charge against drilling was city Councilman Doug Shields (Democrat-District 5). Now Mr. Shields is concerned that once he’s gone from office, future city councils may waver in their anti-drilling commitment and may repeal the ban, so he wants to enshrine the ban in the city’s charter:
Read More “Pittsburgh Councilman Doug Shields Lobbies to Get Drilling Ban Added to City’s Charter”
Giant Eagle, a grocery and convenience store chain with 222 stores in western PA, Ohio and West Virginia, has just opened the first of three compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations in the Pittsburgh area. The company is planning to replace its entire truck fleet (over 200 trucks) with CNG trucks in the coming years. The best part: How does paying $1.85 a gasoline-equivalent gallon grab you? Yes, CNG vehicles cost more (and right now only Honda in the U.S. makes one), but as the infrastructure is built, more auto manufacturers are likely to start making CNG vehicles.
On Wednesday, commissioners for Collier Township (Allegheny County), PA approved a new conditional-use Marcellus Shale drilling ordinance which restricts drilling in the Township:
The borough of Etna, PA, located in Allegheny County (near Pittsburgh) plans to reverse its ban on Marcellus Shale drilling in the borough. The original ban is illegal according to Pennsylvania state law.
Read More “Etna, PA Illegal Ban on Marcellus Shale Drilling to End Soon”
Supervisors in Ohio Township (Allegheny County), PA last night voted to approve an ordinance that places restrictions on Marcellus Shale drilling in the Township. According to Township Solicitor Mike Witherel, the previous ordinance, passed in 2003, placed no restrictions on drilling. The new ordinance puts in place common sense restrictions on drilling activities.
Crescent Township in Allegheny County, PA (in the Pittsburgh area), will now require all Marcellus Shale drilling companies to file for a permit before they can drill on any property in the Township.
Read More “Western PA Township Votes to Require Permits for Marcellus Shale Drilling”
There are 15 (of an original 27) municipal sewage treatment plants in Pennsylvania that still accept Marcellus Shale drilling wastewater. That is, until May 19 of this year.
The Avonworth Municipal Authority in Allegheny County, PA recently signed a five-year drilling lease for the ACORD Municipal Park property controlled by the Authority (see the MDN story here). However, the deal was contingent on four of the five municipalities that oversee the 119-acre park in Kilbuck and Ohio Townships. Last night Emsworth council was the second municipality to vote against the measure and so the deal will not go forward.
The Avonworth Municipal Authority in Allegheny County, PA (near Pittsburgh) has just signed a five-year drilling lease for park property controlled by the Authority.
Read More “Municipal Authority in Western PA Signs Drilling Lease for 119 Acre Park”
Although the entire U.S. remains mired in slow growth, perhaps even a double-dip recession, there are places in the country that are seeing rapid job and economic growth. One of those places is the Bakken Oil fields of North Dakota. Another place is Pittsburgh. Why have those two areas seen such growth and economic prosperity? Hydraulic fracturing. In the case of North Dakota, it’s hydraulic fracturing of oil wells. In the Pittsburgh area, it’s hydraulic fracturing of Marcellus Shale gas wells.
Below is an recent email sent by PittsburghTODAY speaking about Pittsburgh’s economic comeback:
Read More “Pittsburgh Jobs Up, Housing Prices Up, Bankruptcies Down – Why? Hydraulic Fracturing”
MDN received the following press release about a Marcellus Shale debate that will be held in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, April 6th. The debate will be in the classical forensic style of debating where each side gets a certain amount of time to make it’s arguments and to respond to the opposition’s arguments. Should be an interesting event!
From the release:
Those who oppose drilling in Pennsylvania are changing tactics and are now turning to the court system to try and stop drilling:
Read More “Anti-Drilling Groups Planning Federal Lawsuit to Try and Stop Drilling in Western PA”