NORTH SHENANGO TOWNSHIP — The township will not become the first in Crawford County to enact rules for natural gas and oil wells, at least not this year.

Reacting to reports that northwest Pennsylvania will see a boom in Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling in the coming years, and also persistent reports of groundwater contamination allegedly caused by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, used to get at gas in formations like the Marcellus, North Shenango supervisors held public meetings on a proposed ordinance this week.

After two meetings that drew a total of about 100 participants, supervisors decided to table the proposal for further review. No new action to consider the ordinance is expected until an as-yet-unknown date in 2012.

Following nearly an hour of input from the approximately 25 residents in attendance, supervisors Bill Emerick and Eloise Settlemyre voted to table the proposal, which had been on the agenda for action. Supervisor Chairman Jeffrey Daniels was absent.

 Emerick, vice chairman, conducted the session in Daniels’ absence. Emerick said he had thought a lot about the issue following a hearing Monday night attended by about 75 people. He said there were a “lot of good comments” and at this point, he wanted further review to ensure the legality of the ordinance. He then made the motion to table the proposal, noting the delay was not going to jeopardize anything. Settlemyre said she is keeping an open mind about the issue. “I don’t like to see neighbor against neighbor,” she said, referring to the difference in opinions. She said landowners may make a lot of money, “but not at their neighbors’ expense. I’m just trying to protect our township and our interests.”

 She agreed to table the plan until the new year, noting that by that point a new supervisor will have been seated and the township will have time to have the ordinance reviewed by an attorney. The township’s attorney, Alan Shaddinger, has notified the township that he cannot review the ordinance because he has a conflict of interest as his law firm represents well drillers.

Meanwhile, a third of the three-member board will change as Dan Dickey is succeeding Daniels as supervisor, whose term expires at the end of this month. Dickey ran against Daniels and won.

 Prior to Tuesday’s vote, a number of township residents and/or property owners voiced opinions at a meeting about the proposal.

 Dale Funkhouser, who owns property in the township, said he was shocked that nobody in the township was able to tell him the attorney’s name who drafted the ordinance nor anything about when the proposed ordinance was discussed at public meetings. He called the ordinance “dangerous and ill conceived.” He questioned the legal definition of “owners” (of wells) in the ordinance as one example.

 Emerick and Settlemyre said they had attended seminars about the Marcellus Shale drilling. The ordinance was not drafted by an attorney, Emerick noted. The text was put together by the supervisors. In an earlier interview, Daniels said the supervisors were motivated by the desire to protect Pymatuning Lake, which is a significant tourist destination, as well as local property values.

 Larry Crom, township resident, voiced concern that the township “missed the boat without an attorney,” and questioned whether they should approve an ordinance that had not undergone legal review to ensure the township was protected from liability.

Resident Jim Andrews suggested the motion to adopt it be tabled for further review. “This is a very controversial issue. It is pitting neighbors against neighbors in the township,” he said.

 Dickey said the issue is controversial and agreed there is a lot of fact and a lot of emotion involved. “Emotion is fact,” he said, but suggested that “there are too many questions at this point. We do have time,” he said, noting drilling is not going to happen immediately.

 Joel Brown agreed with others, saying, “We need a good ordinance,” but said the one being proposed was “half-baked without legality. You do not have to vote,” he told supervisors, saying, “You don’t have to decide it right now.”

Dickey will be sworn in as new supervisor at the reorganization meeting Jan. 3 at 10 a.m. The regular meeting will follow the reorganization session. The supervisors did not specifically say when the proposal would be brought up again.

State legislators have advanced differing proposals on statewide oil and gas drilling regulations that would supersede local rules.



Highlights of the proposal

Among the proposed ordinance’s provisions are:

- Verification that all residents within a three-mile radius of a proposed well have had their drinking water tested and the cost is paid by the well applicant.

- Verification that all employees working at the well site are legal U.S. citizens.

- Operators and owners are solely liable for any and all damages to the Pymatuning Reservoir or any other recreational facilities in the township.

- Operators may be held liable for damages to the environment in North Shenango Township for an unlimited period of time, and operators can’t transfer liability to any leased landowner.

- Owners and operators must pay an impact fee of $25,000 per well to the township. Each horizontal lateral drilled perpendicular from a single vertical bore will be considered a separate well. (If three lateral wells proceed from the same bore shaft, for example, the fee would be $75,000.)

- When an operator submits a permit application, the operator must schedule a meeting with the township’s board of supervisors to negotiate royalties, payable to the township, for each well drilled. Use of the royalties by the township will be determined by the board.