Mar 1, 2016 3 min read

A letter from Joseph McLaughlin regarding a comment I made during a Peters Township Council meeting that appaeared in the Monday Observer-Reporter conveys an entirely inaccurate interpretation of what I said.

During a discussion of whether or not Peters Township should lease municipal land to EQT to be drilled from a well site in Nottingham Township, I objected to leasing Peters Township property for several reasons. First, the well site is located in a residentially-zoned area, in violation of the state constitution, zoning law and the Commonwealth and Supreme Court decisions regarding Act 13, in which Peters Township was a litigant. For us to lease our property to be drilled from this site would be to condone exactly what we fought against, and strikes me as a very hypocritical action.

Secondly, the proposed Lutes well pad will be the largest well pad in Pennsylvania, with 24 wells. Drilling these wells will in all likelihood occur over a period of years, during which residents of Peters Township will suffer the impacts of the drilling. A fellow councilman observed that 65 percent of the people living in the proposed drilling area had signed leases – a number given by EQT and not verified – and implied that that meant they “obviously” approved of drilling. I think that is anything but true and commented, I believe accurately, that signing a lease didn’t mean that they really approved of drilling or understood what drilling would mean to them.

Do the residents who signed leases know that drilling will mean thousands of heavy trucks travelling up and down Venetia Road and other area roads 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for possibly years? Do they know that drilling, in this case about 1,000 feet from the Peters Township border, will generate very high noise levels, vibration, dust and light? Do they know that there is the very real possibility that the air they breathe will be polluted with noxious chemicals, many carcinogenic and others toxic? Do they know that this exposure can reach out thousands of feet from the drilling site? Do they know that water impoundments can leak and pollute streams in the area? Do they know that groundwater is frequently contaminated by drilling and fracking? Have they talked to people who have lived near drilling operations, many about the same distance as many of those who signed leases, and asked them if they approve of drilling? I really doubt that they know or have thought about these issues.

Therefore I feel very confident in questioning whether the “65 percent of those who signed leases” really approve of gas drilling and whether they really knew what they were doing, what they were getting into, when they signed the leases.

I have fought very hard to protect the people of Peters Township from the potential damage and destruction of our quality of life that gas drilling in the wrong places can cause. I will continue that fight. Contrary to McLaughlin’s assertion that I “show disdain” for the citizens of this township, I think I show very high regard, and I believe that my record fighting to protect our township speaks for itself.

David M. Ball

Peters Township

Ball is a councilman in Peters Township.