Looking back at Greene County history
A look at some of the headlines gracing the pages of the Observer-Reporter and Waynesburg Republican this week in Greene County history:
Gas boom prompts
increase in rate
WAYNESBURG – The gas well drilling boom in Greene County has caused another boom at Waynesburg Sewage Treatment Plant, and borough council decided Monday to double the price for treating waste water to better handle the deluge.
Drilling companies generate a large amount of waste water as a byproduct of creating gas wells. That water must be treated before it can be released back into the environment. Council voted to increase the rate for treating that water from three cents a gallon to six cents.
“We want to use that money to upgrade the plant and enhance the operation there,” Councilman John Ealy said.
Arthur Brower, an engineer from Fayette Engineering, said he would like to see a storage tank at the plant to regulate flow. Trucks carting water from well sites currently dump the liquid directly into the plant, but a storage tank would allow the water to be treated more gradually.
Specter hears from locals
about mining problems
WAYNESBURG – U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter was asked to address several issues ranging from the environmental impacts of underground mining to the situation in Iraq during a town meeting Thursday at Waynesburg College.
During the hourlong session, the Republican senator from Pennsylvania was asked by several speakers to support stronger environmental laws. One man requested he carefully consider the appointment of Mike Leavitt as the new Environmental Protection Agency administrator because of what he called Leavitt’s poor record of enforcing environmental regulations.
Of more local concern, Specter was told by several speakers of problems caused by underground mining that include subsidence, water loss and the creation of underground mine pools that threaten to pollute streams and rivers when the pools eventually flood.
During his introduction, Specter spoke briefly of his work in Western Pennsylvania and of the coal industry.
“I spend a lot of time trying to help Western Pennsylvania, specifically in the coal industry, where we’re trying to develop clean coal technologies as an alternative source of energy to OPEC oil,” he said.
Strength in numbers
BOBTOWN – Bobtown residents have shown they are willing to join the fight against crime in their community.
More than 150 residents attended a meeting Aug. 4 in the social hall of St. Ignatius Catholic Church, where information was presented on forming a community crime watch.
Some 104 of those in attendance signed a list indicating they will participate in a crime watch program.
The Dunkard Township supervisors had arranged Thursday’s meeting after being approached by residents concerned about crime in the community as well as problems caused by young people out on the streets late at night.
“I think we accomplished quite a lot,” township supervisor Marvin (Bud) Moody said Friday. “There was a greater turnout than I expected.”
Smith Takes Strong
Stand On Airport
R. Stanley Smith, chairman of the Greene County Board of Commissioners, Thursday explained his stand regarding the erection of an administration building and two service hangars at the county airport.
The statement was made in reply to one from a group of pilots at the airport, who have announced that they do not favor the project.
Smith said that the administration building is not being erected for “a small group of pilots to lounge in”, but for the public as a whole.
“The Greene County Airport has the best runway of any small airport in Southwestern Pennsylvania, but the present administration building is so inadequate that it is a barrier to full utilization of the $1.5 million investment already represented in federal and local funds in the runways.”