Sep 8, 2015 2 min read

A Sept. 21 public hearing to amend natural gas zoning ordinances before Smith Township supervisors will be a preview of what to expect for five other municipalities planning to update their drilling regulations.

Smith Township’s solicitor, Gary Sweat, represents five other municipalities contemplating updates to their ordinances, and Smith’s proposed change from permitted-use to conditional-use drilling permits would serve as a model for the others, according to Sweat. They are Independence, Hopewell, West Middletown, North Franklin and Donegal.

The six municipalities have acknowledged they have been or are about to be inundated with gas-drilling activity, according to Sweat. They are jointly paying Sweat to craft a model so that they all can get up to speed without breaking their municipal budgets.

“In Donegal, where drilling is already going on in a lot of agricultural areas, they have no gas regulations. Nothing on the books. So this is important to protect everyone involved,” Sweat said.

The major change expected to all ordinances involving gas drilling is a switch from permitted use – a one-and-done sign-off on drilling projects – to conditional use, which requires exacting specifications for every step in the process from infrastructure setbacks, road repairs and emergency plans and routes. And all of it would have to be reviewed at public hearings.

“Our office has handled over 40 conditional-use hearings. And it’s through that experience that it’s our opinion that conditional use is the best way to go. It protects everyone involved … attach as many conditions as you can for public health and safety, yet at the same time not craft an ordinance that is going to be legally challenged from day one,” Sweat said.

The reason Smith lies at the forefront of the mass update is because of three applications for projects in the township: Energy Transfer Corp. wants to build a natural gas compressor station for a pipeline and a standalone processing facility; MarkWest plans to build a processing facility, too, according to Smith Township officials.

Sweat said there’s one last major benefit to having conditional-use permits, especially in wide-open agricultural and rural areas.

“Sometimes drillers have gone back to used sites and use farms as staging areas for truck depots. Well, that’s now a commercial use, and some things would have to be acknowledged with that. Conditional-use applications for that well site would catch it,” he said.