Judge: Cecil board erred in denying shale application
A state Commonwealth Court judge ruled recently that Cecil Township’s zoning hearing board erred when it denied a Marcellus Shale company’s application for a natural gas compressor station.
The appeals court remanded the issue to Washington County Common Pleas Court, which will order the board to approve MarkWest’s application within 45 days of the court order, as long as it meets all township criteria. Township Solicitor John Smith said he will discuss appeal options with the board of supervisors at Monday’s meeting.
MarkWest spokesman Robert McHale said the company is pleased with the court’s decision.
“Overturning the board’s arbitrary decision is an important victory for the rule of law. However, it is deeply unfortunate that the rights of local mineral and leaseholders were neglected in the process,” McHale said in an email. “The board’s actions resulted in an unnecessary waste of both public and private resources, and a loss of untold amounts royalty revenue to local residents, which may never be recouped.”
MarkWest, which operates a natural gas processing plant in Houston, submitted an application in November 2010 to construct a compressor station in Cecil Township’s light industrial district. The property is about a half-mile north of the intersection of Route 980 and Route 50. It is adjacent to residential districts, and the facility would be constructed at least 1,000 feet away from residents’ homes.
The proposed facility would include up to eight engines and sound structures, piping, dehydration facilities, tanks and a vapor recovery unit. MarkWest would remove water from the gas, compress it and transport it through pipelines to its Houston facility, where hydrocarbon liquids would be removed to create the processed gas that is supplied to consumers.
MarkWest was fined $150,000 by the state Department of Environmental Protection earlier this year for flaring at the Chartiers Township plant that sent flames and plumes of smoke into the air from an unpermitted fractionator.
According to Cecil Township’s 2010 ordinance, natural gas compressor stations are permitted as long as they comply with the township’s Unified 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,” according to the court opinion written by Judge Anne E. Covey.
The zoning board denied MarkWest’s application in March 2011, stating it did not satisfy the UDO’s requirements. MarkWest filed an appeal in April 2011, and Range Resources intervened in May 2011 as a property owner or tenant. Washington County Common Pleas Court affirmed the zoning board’s decision in January 2013, and the two parties again appealed.
The zoning board argued the compressor station is not of the same general character as other permitted uses in that district, and its impact on the environment would be greater than other uses.
“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.
Judge Covey wrote MarkWest provided documentation indicating the DEP deemed the facility “unlikely to trigger air-related health issues.”
MarkWest stated in its application the compressor station is of the same general character as an “essential service,” a use permitted by right in the light industrial district, that is critical to the supply of gas and “necessary for the health, safety and general welfare of the community.”
The board argued the compressor station is more comparable to a cellular communication facility, which is expressly excluded from the definition of an essential service, along with other private commercial enterprises.
Judge Covey concluded the board’s position is an “unreasonable interpretation and application of the ordinance.”
Although Commonwealth Court reversed one portion of the lower court’s decision, it reaffirmed the lower court’s ruling the township’s UDO does not unlawfully exclude natural gas compressor stations, and its UDO is not preempted by state law.