Posts Tagged ‘Borough’

Law will restrict gas wells to specific areas

By Rory Sweeneyrsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

There’s no natural-gas drilling in Dallas, but that’s not stopping the borough from deciding where it will allow drilling.

As part of the revision of its zoning ordinance, Dallas is adding provisions that would restrict sitting gas wells to areas zoned industrial, highway or business. It would also designate distance setbacks from residences, waterways, streets and wetlands.

The proactive stance is putting Dallas at the forefront of what could become a major issue as drilling in the Marcellus Shale increases.

“You’re talking about a very fundamental conflict between the municipal regulation of land use and the ability of landowner to access land rights,” said Stephen Rhoads, the president of the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Association. “You could think of this in terms of taking.”

“Taking” is illegally blocking someone’s access to the point of essentially denying their rights. Eventually, it will find its way to court, Rhoads said, though he wouldn’t speculate on who would win.

At its meeting on Thursday, the borough’s planning commission recommended the borough council vote on the revisions.

“The main point is that we were already going through a revision … so we thought it would be proactive to include something that reflects what’s going on in the Back Mountain these days,” Borough Manager Tracey Carr said.

The ordinance would also require drillers to identify roads they plan to use, pay for an engineer to document the roads’ conditions and be responsible for maintenance and repair.

With a flurry of lease signings lately, gas drilling has become a hot topic in the county. Drillers are flocking to the area to tap the Marcellus Shale, a layer of gas-laden rock about a mile underground that stretches from New York to Virginia. Its huge size – and economic potential – has been known for years, but technology only recently caught up to access it.

Despite industry innovations such as horizontal drilling that allow wells to access gas pockets up to a mile away, Rhoads said having versatility in well sites makes “a difference because it depends how much surface area is put off limits. You can’t just put a well site on the edge of town and drill from one well site and get every possible molecule of gas.”

Carr said the provisions aren’t meant to keep drilling out of any areas, “just where would be most appropriate if it was to take place.”

Rhoads said such actions can harm landowners. “The geology will dictate where the well (should be) located – not zoning – and if there’s a conflict between zoning and geology, the geology loses,” he said. “You’re effectively telling me that my oil and gas property is worthless if you zone my surface property in such a way that I can’t gain access to it.”

On the scale of issues facing the industry – including access to water for gas extraction, disposal options for waste and a proposed state severance tax – Rhoads called zoning “a major issue.”

But for Carr and the borough she manages, it’s just being efficient and responsible. “This is actually a very small part of what we’re doing,” she said, noting that the borough’s consultant on the revision suggested adding the drilling provisions.

The proposed ordinance must go through a public hearing and likely won’t be addressed by the council until November or December, she said. There have been no complaints so far, she said, “but we haven’t had the public hearing yet, either.”

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

Copyright: Times Leader