Middlesex Twp. Zoneing Challange Geyer Well et al

All things pertaining to Middlesex Twp gas drilling activities or lack thereof.

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Permalink Reply by LH on June 10, 2015 at 8:54am

I don't know if they realize that 228 is a truck route and has been for many many years with diesel trucks not only related to the Wells driving past Mars schools daily.  I live on a private lane and next to us a housing development is being built.  Should I complain about the trucks in and out but I will state what the principal of the elementary school said and in his own words:

Yeager called as a witness Mars Elementary School principal Robert Zaccari, who said his Weatherburn Heights home is 700 to 800 feet from the Geyer well pad. 
Zaccari, like all the witnesses called by Yeager, said they did not expect an “industrial activity” like shale gas drilling to crop up so close to their rural homes. 
Zaccari said he and his wife built their four-bedroom home as an investment, as the Middlesex area is a growing community where property values are expected to continue increasing. 
“We have been there for three years, and up until several months ago, it has been terrific,” Zaccari said. 
He said the constant noise and bright lights set up to develop the Geyer wells were not what he expected when he moved to Weatherburn Heights. He said based on the residential-agricultural zone and the history of the area, he thought the Geyer farm would remain farmland. 
“I never would have expected it would become industrial and there would be lights and noise and trucks,” Zaccari said. 
He said he also worries about safety because he has lost a home to an explosion in the past in which he lost everything but the clothes on his back. 
“Had I known this was going to occur, I never would have put my wife and I in the position for that to occur again,” Zaccari said. 
He testified that the construction of homes that has been ongoing in Weatherburn Heights has not been bothersome because it was expected. 
Zaccari said the two types of construction are completely different because while home construction goes on during business hours on weekdays, well construction is carried on around the clock. 
But cross-examination revealed that the Geyers had signed a surface lease with Rex Energy in 2009, two years before the Zaccaris bought property and had a home built in Weatherburn Heights. 
Middlesex solicitor Michael Hnath asked Zaccari, and the other nearby witnesses called by Yeager, if they had checked with the township manager regarding the potential for unconventional drilling near their prospective homes. 
Hnath asked if prior to buying his home, Zaccari had checked to see if any surface drilling leases had been signed in the area of Weatherburn Heights. Zaccari replied that he hadn’t. 
Rex Energy attorney Kevin Colosimo asked Zaccari if he owns his gas and oil rights, to which Zaccari responded that he does, and chose not to sign a non surface gas lease with Rex Energy. 
Colosimo asked Zaccari how he heats his house and if he has a grill. 

Permalink Reply by DG on June 10, 2015 at 9:35am

Oh yes I remember that article with his testimony, I just chuckled when I read it. 

Plus his comment about noise and lights, this activity is not permanent, everyone acts like it is, do they not realize all the shallow producing wells around this area still exist! It will done  and finished before it really becomes a "nuisance" plus that's why operators give out a "nuisance" payment to surrounding owners of a pad site regardless of them being a mineral lease lessor. Just to try to be a good neighbor.

Heck I would love it Rex made a donation to the school district lets say to the PTO...will they turn it down just because its Rex...or will they take it?

There are always going to be haters and complainers. 

There are a lot of people that have no idea about true operations...they watch 

fact-less so called documentaries like Gasland and think its the absolute truth. 

Plus I love that they put sound and light abatement walls up..sure that will "help" but you know what...the people that live a few miles away will get that noise verses the people that live close by....sound travels, trust me. 

Permalink Reply by LH on June 10, 2015 at 9:55am

Example: Marburger Farm.  When I take a ride on my motorcyle by the Marburger Farm, it's nice and quiet.  I also keep hearing we aren't against drilling but we don't want it near our schools.  Where were these people when gas wells were being put around the other schools in PA.

 

Permalink Reply by LH on June 10, 2015 at 10:05am

I also wanted to mention that someone was complaining on fb about the smell of sulfur coming from their sink.  Keep in mind this person lives in the Boro of Mars.  A anti-driller through in his two cents and said it could be from the Geyer Well pad.  The Boro has public water and is no where near the Geyer Well pad.  So you can imagine that if anything goes on in this area the Geyer Well pad will be to blame.

Permalink Reply by FairMktValue on June 10, 2015 at 12:37pm

Rex tests the water within 4,000 ft of the well pad. I can attest to that.

They check every well, spring, creek, and wet spot on the property.

The guy took 8 or 10 different sample bottles from each source. The test reports I got back showed they tested for just about everything imaginable.

If after drilling the water goes bad you have proof that it was fine before the drilling.

BTW, I am not leased w/Rex or anyone else so I really do not have a dog in this fight. 

Cheers

Permalink Reply by DG on June 10, 2015 at 12:07pm

yep, I commented awhile go about this when rex first approached the school to lease, but did the school ever think to reach out to other school districts in this state that are leased and in high active drilling area to speak to their experiences. I was thinking about Washington, Bradford and Susquehanna counties for one and all the drilling activity in those counties and how the school districts have been involved. 

They act like this is the first time drilling has happened near a school. 

Also a lot of people don't understand the basic geology of the earth and how there are natural occurring events that have been happening since the beginning of time, and not because of drilling. 

Permalink Reply by LH on June 10, 2015 at 12:47pm

Don't forget Seneca Valley School district.

 We have a  lease for this particular well and our water has been tested for everything.

Permalink Reply by LH on June 10, 2015 at 10:40pm

The article I have attached is just another article about the landowners lawsuit. 

http://triblive.com/mobile/8503028-96/lawsuit-landowners-zoning

I just pulled out some key points from the article

"Ryan Dewey, one of the property owners, said the case is based on the fact drilling is legal in Pennsylvania.

“Therefore, anyone who forestalls our legal use of our property must be accountable for their interference,” he said in a statement.

The lawsuit is asking for more than $35,000 in legal fees and “hundreds of thousands of dollars in missed revenues,” Dewey said.

“This is not a matter of some political cause for us, as it is for these outside groups. Rather, this has become part of our collateral interest.”

"The notion that someone would sue you for exercising your free speech right and your responsibility as a parent to protect your children's health is truly outrageous,” Yeager said."

Permalink Reply by Vicki on June 11, 2015 at 8:35am

Thank you, Cat. 

I have read through this article. It seems to me that property owners (including myself) often forget that any person can challenge a change in the local township's zoning. The statement that "anyone who forestalls our legal use of our property must be accountable for their interference" disregards the fact that those who challenged the Middlesex zoning had every right to do so.

Any thoughts?

Permalink Reply by LH on June 11, 2015 at 1:52pm

I don't think it's a situation that both sides will ever agree on.  The anti-drillers have the right to free speech. The landowners have the right to do what they want with their own property. Just have to sit back and watch it unfold.  

Permalink Reply by Vicki on June 11, 2015 at 1:58pm

Absolutely.

We all have a right to free speech regardless of each property owner's position. However, as a property owner, we do not have the right 100% to do what we want with our own property. Unless the property is located in a township with no zoning. This basic concept is hard to grasp when emotions are high. Who knows...maybe I am missing something.

Thank you the information.

Permalink Reply by LH on June 20, 2015 at 9:16am

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