Marcellus Shale facility proposed in South Strabane Columbia Midstream wants to build a launcher/receiver facility and meter station near Davis School Road
Carolyn Yagle, a consultant hired to help write South Strabane Township’s oil and gas drilling ordinance, points to a township zoning map as she explains the proposal.
Nearly 50 people attended Tuesday night’s South Strabane Township supervisors meeting to discuss changes to the township’s oil and gas drilling ordinance.
A proposal to build a compressor station in South Strabane Township was pulled, but a Marcellus Shale pipeline transmission company now wants to build a different type of “facility in support of natural gas development” at the site.
Columbia Midstream Group, a subsidiary of NiSource, submitted an application to the township’s zoning hearing board Jan. 13 to construct the launcher/receiver facility and neighboring meter station on two sections of 251 acres owned by Range Resources.
The company pulled back on its plan to build a compressor station on the land near Davis School and Meadows View roads after township officials declared their intention to ban such facilities in agriculturally zoned districts. The updated proposal is less intrusive than a compressor station, but is “essential for the transmission of natural gas from oil and gas wells” drilled in the area, according to the application.
The two projects, located on separate sides of Davis School Road near Route 19, would cost $3.25 million to construct, according to the zoning application. The East Washington Gathering Project would include a series of pipelines that connect to nearby transmission lines being built, but the actually footprint of the facilities would be relatively small.
The launcher/receiver system would be built on a 40,000-square-foot gravel pad and include pipelines, filtering mechanisms and storage tanks to remove water, gas liquids and solids from the natural gas before it enters the transmission pipelines. The meter station would be on a pad roughly half that size and include similar components to measure the amount of gas flowing through the pipes and control the pressure.
Some of the nearly 50 residents who attended Tuesday night’s public hearing to discuss changes to the township’s oil and gas drilling ordinance raised questions about the changes to the proposal and what it would mean for the community. The thought of a natural gas facility and possibly Marcellus Shale drilling near Maureen Schulte’s home on Meadows View Road, where she’s lived for more than 20 years, did not sit well with her.
“I built my house to be in the country,” Schulte said at the public hearing. “It’s not a good situation for the little guy who lives on Meadows View Road.”
Max Junker, a lawyer representing Columbia Midstream, said they removed the compressor station plans when they learned the township decided to restrict those facilities from being built in agricultural areas. The application to the zoning hearing board requests a special exception to build the metering station and receiver facility, and it threatens a validity challenge to the zoning ordinance if it’s rejected.
Meanwhile, before construction of those two systems, Columbia Midstream representatives said they want to install a 16-inch pipeline beneath Meadows View Road that would connect to other transmission pipelines. The township supervisors approved a $6,250 road bond from Columbia on that half-mile stretch to ensure that Meadows View Road will be rebuilt if damaged by heavy trucks that are expected to use it during the pipeline construction.
The interest in the property by Columbia Midstream also raised speculation on whether it will eventually be developed for natural gas drilling.
The amendments to the township ordinance, which mainly address compressor stations, processing plants and water impoundments, would also permit deep well drilling in R-2 suburban residential districts and agricultural land. That means the 251 acres that straddle Davis School Road purchased by Range Resources for $4 million in September 2010 could one day be drilled.
Although township officials have still not approved the first set changes to the oil and gas ordinance, supervisors Chairman Jack Keisling said they expect to begin discussing what conditions to place on drilling later this year. A review of some of those conditions will begin at a planning commission meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. today at the township building.
“There’s so much to this it’s really hard to digest,” Keisling said. “We’re in no-man’s land right now. It’s coming at us like gangbusters.”
The supervisors decided to continue public comment on the first phase of the oil and gas ordinance until their voting meeting Feb. 24. The township will put the changes it’s made to the ordinance on its website for residents to view, but it is not known if the supervisors will vote on the new rules after the next public hearing.