Well pads despoil the landscape,
Access roads gouge the hillsides.
42-ton tanker trucks rumble past
My house, shake the foundation,
And rattle my bones. 

Fracking rigs sprout up like
Twisted parodies of trees
With lights that blaze 24/7.
Roaring flares that sound like a 747
Idling outside your house.

Benzene, toluene, xylene, methane
Stink like burning plastic.
Children choke on foul fumes
From the well pad beside their school.
Parents wonder what diseases they will get.

Wastewater impoundments contain (or don’t) toxic
Slurry with signs that say:
“Danger! Water Hazard! Keep Out!”
If I have to keep out of their water,
Why don’t they keep out of mine?

Sam Hoszwa

On Sept. 6, a shale gas well pad fire in Mercer County resulted in the evacuation of 15 to 20 homes within a one mile radius of the well pad. 

On Sept. 15, the Butler Township Board of Commissioners likely will approve a well pad on the property of the Krendale Golf Course, zoned R-2, in a densely populated residential neighborhood. 

In the event of a fire at said well pad, an evacuation within a one-mile radius would easily encompass hundreds of homes, as well as Moraine Pointe Plaza, much of Butler Commons, Benbrook Medical Center, the VA Hospital, Lowrie Place Nursing Home and Northwest Elementary School. 

Explosions and blowouts at shale-gas facilities often result in evacuations of an even greater radius, usually two miles. 

I hope that the Butler County Emergency Management Agency has an evacuation plan in place for the Krendale pad, as well as all the other well pads, processing plants and compressor stations in Butler County. I hope that EMA will share those plans with the public, so that residents know where to go in the case of a shale-gas emergency and what routes to take to get there. 

And, I hope that EMA makes that information available to residents who might not have Internet access, such as my in-laws, who live less than a mile away from the proposed Krendale pad. 

While the public’s general perception may be that such incidents are rare, Mercer County has experienced two well pad fires in less than a month. 

Butler Township officials have acted recklessly and irresponsibly in creating an ordinance that permits drilling in residential neighborhoods. The least EMA can do is to give residents the reassurance that there is a safe place to go, and a safe way of getting there, in the event of a well pad emergency.


j.p.m.

In what can only be described as a mighty blow against industry hubris and governmental malfeasance, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has rescinded a permit it had previously issued to XTO for a proposed well site in Franklin Township. It would be wonderful if this act of sanity could be attributed to corporate conscience or governmental due diligence, but that is not the case. This amazing turn of events came about because a mighty band of residents pooled their pluckiness, their resources and their expertise and felled Goliath - XTO is a subsidiary of the richest company on the planet - ExxonMobil.

Time and again, XTO assured the residents that they knew Franklin Township better than the folks that live there. Time and again, XTO, its apologists and sock puppets crowed about meeting or exceeding DEP's "stringent" regulations. Time and again, governmental bodies soothed the concerned residents, "DEP will take care of you."

XTO's permit application failed to address, didn't even fill out, important parts of the application. Other parts were merely boilerplate, failing to address facts on the ground. This put the Lake Arthur watershed in harm's way, it endangered the drinking water supply of Harmony Borough and the private wells of nearby residents. And how did DEP respond? It approved this woefully inadequate and dangerously deficient plan - living up to a moniker many of us now use to describe the agency, Don't Expect Protection.

Using thousands of dollars of their own money, Save Lake Arthur Watershed (SLAW), the aforementioned mighty band, mobilized. These, mostly retired, residents did what XTO and DEP should have done. They poured over maps, studied run-off patterns, read regulations, examined documents,read research, and implored company and government officials to pay attention. All to no avail. Finally, they filed suit - at great cost. And then, XTO and DEP took notice.

The system is broken. We, the residents of the Commonwealth, pay taxes to fund an agency that doesn't do its job. Worse, that agency is held up as an impediment to business and, contradictorily, a protector of the Commonwealth. It's neither. DEP is a sham. Residents of the Commonwealth shouldn't have to pay more money just so DEP will pay attention to us.

If XTO can't fill out paperwork properly, even when it knows that people are watching, how can we trust them to do infinitely more complex things when no one is watching? And how do we know that no one is watching? Because DEP rubber stamps documents that leave entire critical sections blank.

A while ago, a Butler County resident found that a driller located a well too close to his house (the driller was XTO). He told me that he notified DEP and was told, "XTO would never make a mistake like that." The homeowner insisted that DEP measure and, sure enough, the well was too close.

If XTO and DEP can't take care of the little things, they have no business conducting or regulating big and complex things.

What would we do without plucky residents?

Michael Bagdes-Canning

This is not me, talking to lawyers.
This is not anyone I would remotely recognize
As being myself.
This is what I have become,
Rising to the challenge of your schemes...

I remember back in December,
Reading the Chief Justice's words,
That you must protect the people and the land.
Imagine my joy at this proclamation!
Imagine my shock when I discovered
You intended to do neither...

I never knew what nice people
Lawyers can be:
The compassion they have shown
That's been lacking in your words to me.
You focus only on the money,
Turn a blind eye to the dangers
That are always “greatly exaggerated”
While they're happening to someone else...

So maybe this is me, after all,
Talking to lawyers.
The good guys, leading the charge
To right the wrongs and correct the injustices
While you sit and obstinately insist
That I don't know what I'm talking about...

You know what?
I think I'd rather talk to lawyers...


J.P.M.

A statement given to the Butler Township commissioners.

This past weekend I read a letter to the Butler Eagle about drilling and zoning from Middlesex Twp. I found it very enlightening.

The writer spoke of the overturn of Act 13 that returned zoning powers to municipalities regarding natural gas drilling. That's certainly true. She spoke of the alleged majority of leaseholders in Middlesex that township supervisors were “listening to” in changing their ordinances to allow expanded drilling in the township. I thought: “Okay, that's probably what happened in Butler Township, too.” Lastly, she spoke of DEP's 500-ft. setback as being state law and that no further restrictions were required. I figured that was probably at least a part of Solicitor Lutz's assertion that Butler Twp.'s drilling ordinance is in compliance with state law...

But nowhere in that letter did I see any mention of the Environmental Rights Amendment – Article 1, Section 27 of the PA State Constitution, upon which much of the PA Supreme Court's ruling on Act 13 was based.

As I understand it, from people like Atty. Jordan Yeager and others who were closely associated with this case, the court ruling does indeed return zoning powers to municipalities with regard to shale gas drilling, and it also requires municipalities to zone for drilling in a way that upholds the constitutional protections guaranteed by the Environmental Rights Amendment.

What does that mean? Do you know? Has Penn State Extension been roaming the commonwealth explaining to municipalities how to be in compliance with the revised Act 13 and the Environmental Rights Amendment?

Maybe they have, but I doubt it. I do know that Jordan Yeager has written letters to at least four municipalities in Butler County attempting to explain to them their rights and responsibilities under Act 13 and the Environmental Rights Amendment.

For example, in his letter to Adams Township officials, Atty. Yeager states that an ordinance that allows drilling everywhere would violate the state constitution. Butler Twp. has just such an ordinance.

And in his letter to Butler Twp. officials, Atty. Yeager states that if the township were to change its ordinance so as to no longer allow drilling in all zoning districts, such action would be in compliance with the state constitution and Section 27, and therefore would nullify any charges of “unlawful taking” that the township might incur through such an action.

However, if the township were to persist in allowing drilling to occur in all zoning districts, including residential, Atty. Yeager states that the township would run a “significant and substantial risk” of a constitutional challenge from township residents. Notice that he does not say a “regulatory” challenge – he doesn't mention the drilling ordinance being in violation of DEP regulations – but a constitutional challenge. Four times he mentions this in his letter to the township, once even referring to it as a “Section 27 challenge.”

And, given Atty. Yeager's track record and familiarity with this particular law and this particular court ruling, I don't think he would be mentioning that if he didn't think that such a challenge had a very good chance of being successful...

Consider well, gentlemen. Consider well...

J.P.M.

On April 21, with little fanfare and zero media coverage, the Butler Township Board of Commissioners approved the construction of a Marcellus Shale well pad in a residential area. Details of the drilling site off Schaffner Road in an area zoned R-1 (Single Family Residential) may be found on the township website in the Planning Committee meeting minutes for Apr. 1.

Prior to the passage of Act 13 in Feb. 2012, Butler Township ordinances allowed drilling in agricultural and manufacturing zones only. After Act 13 was passed, the commissioners drafted a letter of support for those municipalities mounting a legal challenge to the zoning prohibitions of Act 13. In December 2013 that challenge was successful, and the PA Supreme Court restored to municipalities their right to zone drilling.

But now that the zoning powers which they once supported have been restored, the Butler Township commissioners seem no longer interested in zoning safeguards with regard to drilling. The current drilling ordinance, adopted in Dec. 2012 to comply with the original version of Act 13, permits drilling in all zones.

I wonder if any other Butler Township residents find this trend disturbing. Or perhaps they have bought into the industry's claims that shale-gas drilling is safe and tightly regulated and there is nothing to worry about. Myself and others have been sharing factual reports to the contrary for years now; if readers aren't yet convinced that this process needs at the very least to be kept out of residential areas, they probably never will be.

Then again, perhaps many township residents have leased their residential properties and so wish for the township's drilling ordinance to remain as it is. But drilling in a residential zone can have costs beyond environmental, health and safety factors. At least one local bank has stated that it would be "very hesitant" to issue a mortgage to a property if a well pad was within close proximity to that property.  Other local banks may have similar policies.  Thus the ordinance allowing residential drilling could potentially put a number of residential properties at risk of being unsellable due to an inability to procure the requisite financing for purchase.

In addition, many area banks will not grant mortgages to leased properties with the clause “Lease has priority over mortgage” or similar language contained in the lease. A search on the Butler County Deeds and Records website has turned up a number of residential leases with such language in Butler Township. This could ultimately have a great negative impact on the township's future growth for the reasons mentioned above. Leaseholders should check with their banks or lending institutions for details and to verify this information.

Finally, there may be those Butler Township residents who are concerned about residential drilling but don't know what they can do, or feel there is nothing they can do, to stop it. These people may be surprised to know that the power of law is on their side. Besides restoring zoning powers, the state Supreme Court's ruling on Act 13 has placed the rights to clean air and enjoyment of property, among other rights, on equal footing with the right to financial gain from one's mineral rights. One can still do the latter, but not at the expense of the former. Furthermore, a lawyer consulted about Butler Township's drilling ordinance stated that a zoning ordinance that allows drilling everywhere is in violation of the state constitution.  He said that municipal officials must by law enact zoning that protects the interests of all residents, not just leaseholders.

A couple years ago I attended a Butler Township commissioners' meeting and was surprised to see a large number of people there to protest a sports complex that had been proposed for their residential neighborhood. The level of organization was remarkable. The complaints and concerns – noise, bright lights, safety, property values – were the same as those I'd heard expressed in meetings elsewhere when shale-gas wells were being discussed. Could that level of organization and concern be brought to bear in the matter of residential well pads in Butler Township?

For those of us who are concerned about drilling in residential areas, the law is on our side. What is lacking is the organization and mobilization of concerned residents. Could we perhaps remedy that situation? Soon? Before the next residential drilling site is approved by Butler Township commissioners?  

j.p.m.

I am greatly concerned about the proposed well pad at the Cratty farm off Election House Road. Currently, this pad is located within the watershed for Lake Arthur and Moraine State Park. This watershed is a state-designated Special Protection High Quality Watershed in which strip mining and other significant earth-moving projects have been prohibited since the creation of the lake in the 1960s. However, because the Marcellus Shale boom is so recent, there are no special protections concerning fracking. I am opposed to fracking in general, but it likely will happen regardless. Therefore, since townships have the power to regulate fracking within their communities through zoning and other laws since the repeal of Act 13, Franklin Township should pressure XTO Energy to move their well pad to the southeast, so that it would not drain into Shannon Run, which directly feeds Lake Arthur. 

I would like to point out the fact that XTO has one of the worst violation records for a drilling company in the state. XTO has 186 violations on record, the sixth highest in the state (NPR StateImpact). Here are some recent examples:

• April 22, 2014: XTO Energy issued a violation for “Failure to properly store, transport, process or dispose of a residual waste” at their AK Steel B1H well in Butler Township.   
  A similar incident also occurred at their Vadnal A Unit 10HB in Jefferson Township on April 20, 2014. There are numerous cases of this violation at XTO sites across Butler County. 
• July 23, 2013: XTO issued a violation for “Discharge of industrial waste to waters of Commonwealth without a permit” at their Kozick Bros Const Inc 2 well in Summit Township.

The majority of XTO’s numerous violations are related to spilling, mishandling, or dumping fracking fluid or residual waste. Fracking fluid contains “BTEX compounds, which stands for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene.  They are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – (organic chemical compounds that are highly evaporative and can produce noxious fumes). Benzene is a known carcinogen, and has also been shown to cause blood disorders.  Both benzene and toluene can affect the reproductive and central nervous systems.   Ethylbenzene and xylene can have respiratory and neurological effects” (from Catskill Mountainkeeper). A joint study by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that a fracking fluid spill in Kentucky in 2007 killed all of the aquatic life in Acorn Fork Creek, the stream into which the fluid was spilled. “After studying samples of the water and bodies of green sunfish and creek chub, government researchers have concluded that the spill acidified the stream and increased concentrations of heavy metals including aluminum and iron. Fish exposed to the water developed gill lesions and showed signs of liver and spleen damage, USGS announced in a press release. The gill lesions were consistent with ‘toxic concentrations of heavy metals,’ the researchers concluded” (from the Huffington Post). Hydrochloric acid was present in the spilled fluid.

As you can see, if similar incidents were to occur at the XTO site on the Cratty farm as have occurred elswhere in Butler County, Lake Arthur and Moraine would be directly affected by it. XTO will also likely construct both fresh and wastewater impoundments at the site due to the lack of municipal water sources and other drilling activity in the area. This poses another threat, as the linings in these pits are only required to be 30 mm minimum in thickness. Often, these liners are poorly installed or tear, leaking the fluid into the ground. These pits have also been known to overflow in heavy, sustained rains. 

I love Lake Arthur and Moraine, and I am certain that many in western Pennsylvania would be devastated if anything were to happen to our beloved park. I urge you to do the smart, common-sense thing and force XTO to move their wells out of the Moraine watershed. Since the repeal of Act 13, you have the power to do that and you need to use it. I have enclosed copies of the articles I mentioned in this letter. Thank you.

Samuel A. Hoszwa

For years, fracktivists and real estate lawyers have been warning of the potential conflict between gas leases and the ability to secure a mortgage on one's leased property.  Now the reality of that conflict is beginning to hit home locally.

A Butler Township resident, concerned over a gas lease that was taken out on his and his neighbors' condos by their homeowners' association, has been contacting area banks and lending institutions to inquire into their policies regarding the financing of leased properties. His research has yielded some very discouraging results.

Fewer and fewer banks in the area are willing to grant a mortgage to a leased property, and if the lease has the statement “lease has priority over mortgage” in it, even those few banks will not offer a mortgage for that property.

A representative from Dollar Bank said that their main concern is with the lease holder being sued. This would put the value of their mortgage in jeopardy since the lease has first priority on monies spent to settle claims filed against the gas company and lease holders. He also said that the bank would be very hesitant in issuing a mortgage if the well pad was within close proximity to the property, especially if the lease didn't absolve the lease holder from any damages. (That Butler Township has recently approved the construction of a well pad in a residential area potentially puts a number of properties at risk.) ESB Bank likewise is taking a close look at leases and liability issues. Many banks refuse to grant mortgages on leased properties simply because federal financial institutions consider gas drilling a “hazardous activity” and will not lend money for a property leased for such an activity; sometimes they refuse to finance a property that is even adjacent to one that has a gas lease.

(This was information received specific to the individual's property. It is always wise to meet and discuss your own situation with lenders.)

This same Butler Township resident has also researched a number of township leases on the Butler County Deeds and Records website; many of the residential leases in the township have the “lease priority” statement in them and the right to run water lines and access roads across the property.

This is a situation that could seriously impact Butler Township's future growth.

It should be noted that, in Aug. 2011, Butler Township formed a Marcellus Shale advisory board to help guide the township in making decisions regarding shale-gas drilling. In March 2012, an advisory board member handed the township officials an extensive report detailing the hazards and issues attendant to unconventional drilling and hydraulic fracturing. One of those issues was the potential lease/mortgage conflict described above. The advisory board member requested that the information contained in the report be shared with all township residents. This was never done.

If township officials had taken the potential lease/mortgage conflict seriously, they could have sent out a township-wide notification warning residents of this potential conflict and encouraging them to seek legal counsel on this specific issue. They did not.

Whatever may be the fallout of the lease/mortgage issue on Butler Township, one thing is certain: township officials cannot claim that they were not informed of this danger, that they were not “advised...”

M.O.B.