New Castle News

A Pulaski couple is suing the township supervisors, claiming they’ve allowed gas drilling to destroy the peace of their home.

The suit tests a Commonwealth Court decision which reversed Act. 13 and could set a precedent in case law, according to attorney Chris Papa, who, along with his father, attorney Angelo Papa, is representing the plaintiffs. Township zoning officer Mourice Waltz is also named as a defendant in the case.

In the suit filed Tuesday in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court, plaintiffs Timothy R. Chito and Elizabeth S. Kesner, both of 650 Cheriwood Road, are seeking more than $50,000 damages.

Chito and Kesner are also asking that the Pulaski Township zoning ordinance be revised to allow wellpads only in industrial zones.

According to the complaint, Chito and Kesner bought their home in a residential area in 1996 and enjoyed its rural quiet until March 2014 when hydraulic fracturing operations got underway on the Mijavec farm1,500 feet away.

The township zoning ordinance allows gas drilling as a conditional use in residential, institutional and agricultural districts.

But the zoning ordinance requires supervisors to deny an application if drilling would have adverse effects on the immediate surroundings as far as noise, traffic, congestion, hours of operation and other factors, they state.

However they claim supervisors “failed to adequately consider” these adverse effects and gave “hasty use approval” to the well pads.

The complaint contends that the supervisors have conflicts of interest because “it is reasonably believed” that all three supervisors have signed lease agreements with Hilcorp, Supervisor Lori Sniezek is employed by Hilcorp, and a permit application was filed for a well pad on Supervisor Sam Varano’s property on Aug. 6.

Varano commented yesterday, “If Chito feels there is a conflict of interest, he should file a complaint with the ethics commission.”

Attempts to contact Sniezek and Supervisor Greg Carna yesterday were unsuccessful. The complaint states that operations on the Mijavec property have disturbed Chito and Kesner with “excessively loud industrial trucks with loud reverse gear alerts and excessively bright lights.” Seismic testing caused explosions that shook the house and after the testing the plaintiffs claim their well water had a foul odor and the basement flooded with foulwater, the court papers state.

The complaint also says that a 100-foot drilling rig began vertical drilling in April, and the well pad operations “resemble a large football field” with lights and loud noise all night.

It states Chito, a professional musician, measured the decibel level at 80, which exceeds the township noise ordinance. Hilcorp was cited but continued the drilling for two months, with the same loud noise, the complaint states.

Soon Hilcorp is expected to bring in a “massive horizontal drilling rig” and continue drilling for an indefinite period, causing more light, noise and dust including the “flames and pollution of natural gas burn-off...,” the complaint continues.

The court papers say Chito and Kesner fear toxic contamination as well as a drastic reduction in the appraised value of their home.

Papa confirmed Thursday that the Chito and Kesner property has a well drilling lease with Hilcorp, but he said they are “trying to get out of it.”

He added that Chito “was promised pie in the sky” when he signed the lease.

Township Solicitor Richard Harper is representing the township in the case.

http://ncnewsonline.cnhi.newsmemory.com/publink.php?shareid=44091ca91