Commission Seeks Guidance on City Law
Mon County hopes to form stance on Marcellus regulation
Morgantown Dominion Post
23 June 2011
By Tracy Eddy
The Monongalia County Commission is asking the county’s assistant
prosecutor for his legal opinion on what authority the county has — if
any — to regulate Marcellus shale drilling in Mon County.
The commission will also ask Assistant Prosecutor Phil Magro for his
opinion on what the county’s stance should be on Morgantown’s new law,
which bans horizontal drilling and fracturing — or fracking — within
the city limits and up to a mile beyond them. Council passed the law at
its Tuesday meeting.
During its Wednesday meeting, the commission voted unanimously to send
a letter to Magro, outlining its questions, which include how the
city’s law would affect the zoning laws in the West Run area.
Commission President Asel Kennedy asked the two other commissioners to
entertain a motion for the County Commission to seek an injunction
against the city’s law on behalf of the county residents who live in
Morgantown’s 1-mile buffer.
“I think we need to stop this until the court system can determine
whether or not this is valid,” he said.
The motion was never made. Kennedy is the commission president and
can’t make motions himself.
Commissioner Bill Bartolo said it would be premature for the county to
take legal action at this point — the commission should evaluate
Magro’s opinions first.
Commissioner Eldon Callen is an attorney, but said he would not give
his legal opinion as a commissioner. He agreed with Bartolo that the
county should consult with Magro.
Kennedy said he considers the city’s law a taking of land use. There
are people in the 1-mile buffer zone who won’t get paid for their
mineral rights because of the city’s law, he said. The people in the
buffer don’t have the ability to vote in the city, he said, so the
county should take action for them.
Bartolo questioned the city’s 1-mile buffer zone and its possible
impact on the West Run zoning laws — does the city have the authority
to supersede those zoning laws?
He also wondered if the county could come up with its own law on
Marcellus shale drilling. “The County Commission doesn’t typically have
any authority unless the state gives it to us,” he said.
Bartolo would also like to know Magro’s legal opinion on what the
County Commission’s role should be in the issue.
Callen said the city rushed into approving its law. Morgantown should
have notified everyone within one mile of
the city limits who would be affected by the law.
“They don’t know who’s covered and who isn’t covered,” he said.
Richard Cohen, of Morgantown, asked the commission to support the City
Council in requiring drillers to hold off on their Marcellus shale
operations until more information about the industry and its possible
effects is available.
He also asked commissioners to create a committee that could look into
the hazards the operations could create.