Robinson to mull compressor station
Robinson Township Planning Commission on Monday delayed a decision on whether to recommend supervisors approve an application by a natural gas processor to build a compressing station along Sunny Hill Road.
The plans call for a station housing six compressor engines on a nine-acre pad. During the special meeting, township engineer John Heyl listed various items – including a geotechnical study – the township still needed to receive from MarkWest to complete the company’s conditional-use application.
Planning commission Chairman Anthony Orlandini told company representatives there was still some “little stuff I’d like to see taken care of” before he could recommend approving the application and send it to township supervisors.
The board delayed its decision in a unanimous 3-0 vote. Another special meeting is scheduled Dec. 5, a week before supervisors’ monthly meeting.
Robert McHale, special project manager for MarkWest, said completing the application before coming back before the commission wouldn’t be a problem.
The station would be on 231 acres of land owned by MarkWest.
“This will be our third compressor station in Robinson Township, so we have, I think, a very good working relationship with the municipality” and local officials, he said.
The company picked the location because it’s near “our producing customers’ wells and existing infrastructure,” according to McHale.
He said equipment at the proposed station would be “nearly identical” to that at the Trillith station in Butler County and Carpenter station in West Alexandria. Noise at both those sites falls in line with the company’s standard and requirements under Act 13, which regulates natural gas activities.
“We have emprical, recorded data from these locations that we are under 60 (decibels) at our property line.
An access road to the station and stormwater pond – one of two planned for the facility – would be in Findlay Township, Allegheny County. Robinson manager Monica Miller said the township has received written approval from officials there for the portions of the plans that involve Findlay, but Heyl and McHale said they hadn’t received their copies of that letter, which is also required for the application.
McHale said the timeline for building the new station and getting it online depends on when the company gets needed approval from various government entities involved in the process. In addition to the conditional-use application from Robinson Township, MarkWest has applied for a GP-5 permit, which covers “minor air contamination sources or facilities” and an earth-disturbance permit, or ESCGP-2, both from the Department of Environmental Protection.