Officials OK Plan to Drill Marcellus Shale for Natural Gas
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
4 March 2010
By Andrea Iglar
Officials in North Fayette and Robinson, Washington County, have
approved an energy company's plans to drill the Marcellus shale field,
which contains natural gas.
Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Appalachia LLC will create five natural gas
wells on land that straddles the neighboring townships.
The formerly strip-mined site, owned by Champion Processing Inc., is in
an industrial zone bordered by Route 980, Steubenville Pike, Beech
Hollow Road and Candor Road.
Supervisors in both townships voted 3-0 in February to approve the
wells, and they attached health and safety conditions.
The state Department of Environmental Protection is responsible for
issuing drilling permits.
North Fayette manager Bob Grimm said residents had raised concerns
about water pollution and other environmental issues.
"They're not things we can address as a township," he said. "They are
things that are regulated by the DEP."
Chesapeake plans to install three wells in Robinson and two in North
Fayette.
According to the company's website, work begins with preparing a pad to
hold the drilling rig and other equipment.
The next steps are drilling -- both vertically and horizontally -- and
hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," a process that generally involves
the forceful pumping of water, chemicals and other materials into the
ground to crack rock and increase gas flow. Once the wells are
completed, they are connected to underground pipelines so the natural
gas can be transported and sold.
Documents from North Fayette say Chesapeake's conditional use
application did not include pipeline infrastructure.
North Fayette supervisors on Feb. 23 approved Chesapeake's request to
work 24 hours a day, seven days a week while drilling and fracturing,
which could last approximately three weeks per well.
Robinson supervisors on Feb. 8 said the company must take measures to
protect the water supplies of nearby residents.
Both townships included provisions for training emergency personnel to
respond to the site.
An access road between Route 980 and the work site will cross the
Montour Trail.
Heavy trucks must travel only on approved, state-owned roads, and all
local roadways must be kept clear of dust and debris, both townships
said.
The access road must be gravel, and Chesapeake must consider the
feasibility of widening the drive to address any potential traffic
hazards, Robinson supervisors said.
Robinson prohibited the transportation or use of fly ash in any aspect
of the project.
The wells would be on the same property as Robinson Power's proposed
Beech Hollow Energy Project -- a waste coal-fired power plant that
recently lost a state air permit -- but would not be located within the
project's permit boundaries.
Fly ash would be a byproduct of burning waste coal, or gob, about 40
million tons of which sit on the 800-acre Champion property.
Andrea Iglar, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.