Marcellus Shale drilling concern continues

February 16, 2011

The Ridgway Township Supervisors look for answers concerning Marcellus Shale drilling. Photo by Gian DeLoia.

Concern for Marcellus Shale drilling was expressed by Elk County Citizens Advocating Responsible Environmental Stewardship (C.A.R.E.S.) member Rick Glover during Tuesday's Ridgway Township Supervisor's meeting.
Glover attended Tuesday's meeting to receive an update on any zoning ordinances to prevent the drilling.
“As a township, you cannot say,'hey, you can't drill five hundred feet from a person's house,'” Glover said. “You cannot say that, but you can set up a zoning ordinance to state that there is no drilling.”
According to Supervisor Sarah Dickinson, the township does not have the authority to prevent the drilling.
“We cannot stop the drilling; we can regulate the drilling,” Dickinson said. “We can talk about setback lines, we can talk about noise, we can put some zoning restrictions about it, but no, we cannot zone drilling out of townships.”
According to Dickinson, the Source Water Protection Program is a stronger alternative to regulate drilling through a zoning ordinance.