Proposed well pad setbacks in W. Pike Run put locals, EQT at odds
A pending ordinance creating new rules for oil and gas facilities in West Pike Run is putting many locals’ concerns at odds with the wishes of the dominant Marcellus shale natural gas driller operating in the township.
About 50 people – many standing in the back or along the walls of the rural Mon Valley township’s meeting room – attended a meeting Monday on proposed changes to the township’s rules pertaining to oil and gas in its roughly 30-year-old zoning ordinance. The proceeding was a continuation of a hearing that had begun Feb. 19. This week’s discussion concluded with officials agreeing to continue hearing testimony at 6 p.m. April 16.
A major point of contention between locals and EQT Corp., which has sent representatives to the meetings, is the 1,000-foot setback between the edges of new well pads and “occupied structures” such as houses that the current proposal would require.
A local community group with concerns about potential impacts on their drinking water and air quality, plus the possible risk to neighbors in the event of an incident at a well pad, wants the setbacks to be at least that far.
“I know that the township does not want litigation by EQT (Corp.), and that’s a fear that everyone has; however, according to the Second Class Township Code, one of the duties of the supervisors is to secure the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the township,” said Maria Ziolecki, organizer of the group Protect West Pike Run Township. “Oil and gas is here, and not anyone here is saying, ‘Hey, don’t drill here.’ And there are active leases in the township. But at the same time … there has to be a balance between your exploration and our best interest.”
Along with the setback between well pads and buildings, the proposal calls for at least 1,000 feet between “the well head/well bore” and streams, springs and other bodies of water.
State law imposes a minimum distance of 500 feet between well heads and buildings, and 300 feet between well heads and various bodies of water.
EQT wants looser setback provisions.
At February’s meeting, company attorney Blaine Lucas told officials the proposal “goes well beyond what’s necessary,” especially given “how extensive the state regulation of oil and gas activity is.”
“The effect of all that … would preclude the development of any additional well pads in the township altogether,” Lucas said of the setbacks. He went on to call the proposal “exclusionary.”
“Not only is that a legal problem, but you have residents and taxpayers who have entered into leases that are hoping to realize royalties,” Lucas added.
Township officials wouldn’t discuss whether they planned to change the setback provisions.
“It’s up to the board,” solicitor Dennis Makel said after the meeting. “The whole thing can change.”
Supervisors Chairwoman Laura Hough said supervisors “would want to hear all the testimony and the comments from citizens. So I can’t really say at this point.”
At last month’s meeting, Rose Monahan, a resident and attorney with Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services who represents the members of Protect West Pike Run, said the 500-foot setback “is simply not adequate to protect public health and the environment.”
While “most other townships” might use that distance, she said, “It’s not based on any science.”
Among those who spoke Monday was Dale Tiberie, 61, whose house is next to the Mad Dog 20/20 well pad where Rice Energy – which EQT bought last year – drilled in 2014. The 500 feet separating his house from a nearby well head is too close for comfort, he said.
“If you had one sitting next to your house, and you feared that one of those well heads goes off, and the flames are 750 feet high …. I’m gone,” Tiberie said. “I live in fear for my life because of that thing next to my house.”