Apr 16, 2015 3 min read

After years of denials and appeals, it appears as though Cecil Township will be home to another component of Marcellus Shale operations.

The state Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by Cecil Township’s zoning board to prevent the construction of a natural gas compressor station about a half-mile north of the intersection of Route 980 and Route 50.

“This was our last step,” said Jeffrey Ries, zoning board attorney.

If heard, the case would have appealed a Commonwealth Court judge’s decision that found the zoning board erred in denying MarkWest’s application for a compressor station. The Commonwealth Court decision ordered the board to approve the station, which has been on hold due to ongoing litigation.

According to Ries, the board will have 45 days to grant a special exemption to MarkWest. However, the board can attach stipulations as long as they are in accordance with the township’s development ordinance.

“There are certain things we can do to cater to nearby residents, like regulate noise and vibration,” Ries said.

MarkWest submitted the application in November 2010 for construction in Cecil’s light industrial district. The proposed facility would remove water from the gas, compress it and transport it through pipelines to the company’s Houston facility, where the processed gas supplied to consumers is created.

“The Supreme Court’s denial of the township’s appeal was confirmation of the Commonwealth Court’s well-reasoned decision restoring the rule of law and common sense to land-use determinations, upholding property rights of mineral owners, and permitting investment in Cecil Township,” said Robert E. McHale, MarkWest manager of special projects, in an email. “We continue to evaluate our options in the township.”

According to a 2010 ordinance, natural gas compressor stations are allowed if they comply with the township’s development ordinance, which allows them by special exception. That use is “expressly permitted by the zoning ordinance, absent a showing of a detrimental effect on the community,” as stated in the court opinion written by Commonwealth Court Judge Anne E. Covey.

In its application, MarkWest declared the compressor station is of the same general character as an “essential service,” a use permitted by right in the light industrial district, which is critical to the supply of gas and “necessary for the health, safety and general welfare of the community.”

The zoning board denied the application in March 2011, claiming it did not satisfy the ordinance’s requirements.

MarkWest filed an appeal in April 2011 and Range Resources intervened in May 2011 as a property owner or tenant. Washington County Court affirmed the zoning hearing board’s decision in January 2013.

MarkWest and Range Resources again appealed, which led to the September 2014 Commonwealth Court decision.

The zoning board also filed an appeal for reconsideration in Commonwealth Court, which was denied.

The board has argued that the compressor station is not the same character as other permitted uses in that district and that the compressor station’s effect on the environment would be significant.

“The proposed facility would cause certain carcinogenic materials and other hazards to be expelled into the air, creating a greater hazard than the emissions from the manufacturing uses permitted by right in the I-1 District,” the board wrote.

In the Commonwealth Court decision, Covey wrote that MarkWest provided documentation indicating the DEP found that the facility was “unlikely to trigger air-related health issues.”