MarkWest Asks Cecil for Compressor Station Permit

Cecil Solicitor John Smith told supervisors Monday that MarkWest wrote a letter to the township demanding that the board issue a permit for a proposed natural gas compressor station to be located off state Route 980 near Coleman Road.

The request, he said, came in light of the state’s new Marcellus Shale law—Act 13, which was previously known as HB 1950.

regarding Cecil Township zoning board's denial of its special request to install a compressor station for Marcellus Shale gas.

“I wouldn’t say demanded. I’d say requested,” Chris Rimkus, special counsel for MarkWest, said of the letter Monday.

The letter, dated March 1, suggests that the township and MarkWest cancel mediation scheduled for March 14. It also requests “the board issue MarkWest a permit for the proposed facility, effective April 14, 2012; and the parties enter into a stipulation of dismissal, and request that the appeal be marked settled and discontinued.”

The new law goes into effect April 14.

“Because MarkWest’s proposed facility will be a permitted use as a matter of law on April 14, 2012 … it appears to be a fruitless exercise for the parties to proceed with the appeal in this matter,” it stated

Supervisors took no action on the request at their meeting Monday.