Mar 4, 2013 4 min read

CARMICHAELS – A resident of Ceylon Road told the Cumberland Township supervisors Monday residents should have been informed a company is conducting a seismic survey in the community.

Terri Donaldson said McDonald Land Services had conducted seismic testing March 29 on her road and the vibrations from the tests had shaken everything in her house.

Donaldson said the vibrations created by a thumper truck had cracked her dining room ceiling. In addition, she said, company employees entered her property without permission and did not have the proper permits with them.

She told the supervisors she was informed the state Department of Transportation had given the company permission to do the testing on state highways while the township supervisors had given it permission to conduct the tests on township roads.

“I’m upset with you,” Donaldson said. “You knew this was coming, and you didn’t tell us.”

Donaldson said if residents knew of the testing in advance they could have been prepared by checking with their insurance companies to see if damage was covered or by posting a sign indicating the property owner didn’t want testing done on their land.

It also would have given homeowners a chance to document the existing conditions of their homes so if damage did occur it could more easily be shown to have resulted from the tests, she said.

Supervisors William Groves said the township had entered a heavy hauling agreement with McDonald on the use of a township road that would ensure if the road were damaged the company would make the repairs.

Seismic testing had been conducted in the township several years ago and it hadn’t created any problems, Groves said. “We went through this three or four years ago, and we didn’t have these kinds of problems,” Groves said. He had received only five telephone calls about the testing, mainly from people wanting to know what was going on.

Groves also said he understood that during the tests a company employee had to enter a person’s property only to place a monitor between the road and the house to make sure vibrations from the truck were not too strong.

Donaldson said company personnel, however, were not asking property owners’ permission to enter their land.

The thumper truck, which was being used by McDonald, creates vibrations, or sound waves, that travel through the ground and are reflected back to the surface, where they are picked up by sensors. The information provides the company with a map of the various rock strata including areas likely to contain natural gas.

The vibrations also can be created by the use of a small amount of explosives. Donaldson said tests using explosives had been done on a property behind her home two days before the thumper truck was used. That, too, caused her house to shake.

Rod White, a spokesman for McDonald who was reached Monday afternoon, said Donaldson’s claims would be investigated.

In other business, the supervisors were asked if they had taken any action to halt organized motocross events that are being held on property off Air Shaft Road.

Groves said the township has sent the property owner, Duane Yost, a notice informing him these events are not permitted in an area zoned for agricultural uses. The property owner has a certain number of days to respond to the letter.

The supervisors also approved a subdivision and land development ordinance. Subdivisions and land development in the township currently are reviewed and approved by Greene County Planning Commission.

Groves said the ordinance would make few changes, but once the township adopts its own ordinance, developers will come to the township not the county to have its plans reviewed and approved.