Oct 29, 2012 2 min read

Range Resources has requested a meeting with South Fayette Township commissioners and administration, according to a letter received by the township from Jim Cannon, local government manager for the gas drilling company. Commissioner Joe Horowitz announced at the end of Wednesday’s commissioners’ meeting that the township recently had received the letter. Township manager Ryan Eggleston said the letter from Cannon was “asking for an opportunity to sit down with commissioners and staff” to talk about what he called the “current state of affairs” in the township regarding natural gas drilling. No date has been set. Last year, Range challenged the township’s strict oil and gas drilling ordinance. That challenge has been stayed pending the outcome of the ongoing lawsuit by the township and several other local municipalities, including Mt. Pleasant, Robinson and Cecil townships in Washington County, over the new state law regulating oil and gas drilling. Earlier this summer, a Commonwealth Court judge declared the zoning portion of Act 13 unconstitutional. The state has appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court. To date 2,441 of Pennsylvania’s 2,550 municipalities have, through amicus briefs and other means, come out in support of the municipalties’ fight, solicitor Jonathan Kamin said. Kamin also said South Fayette Township may be able to receive its impact fees after a Commonwealth Court judge ordered the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to stop challenging municipal ordinances on natural gas drilling. The PUC had ruled Oct. 18 that South Fayette will be ineligible to receive its $2,700 share of Marcellus shale impact fees unless it amends its drilling ordinance. However, in an order handed down last week, Senior Commonwealth Court Judge Keith Quigley stated that the PUC must “cease and desist” from reviewing municipal ordinances for compliance with Act 13. South Fayette Township’s Marcellus shale drilling ordinance was the first to be reviewed by the PUC after a request filed by a township resident.