Tuesday, July 3, 2012
MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources LLC claims financial damages by not being able to build a natural-gas compression station.
Claiming irreparable financial damage, MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources LLC is suing Cecil Township. The company late last week also petitioned Commonwealth Court for a preliminary injunction to pave the way for the construction of a natural-gas compression station on property off Coleman Road near Route 980. MarkWest’s action came after township officials sent the company a letter, dated June 15, denying a second application by the company to use the property for the facility. An application for a special exception was turned down in 2011, with the township zoning hearing board citing potential impact on neighboring properties and disagreeing with MarkWest’s claim of providing an “essential service.” Washington County Court of …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Supervisor complains about Act 13 legalities, health insurance issues.
Audience outbursts peppered Cecil Township’s board of supervisors meeting Monday night as Supervisor Elizabeth Cowden took her co-board members and counsel to task over multiple issues from legal mediation to medical information that residents requested from the township manager. Supervisor Cowden questioned Solicitor John Smith at length over a mediation hearing she and co-board member Andrew Schader attended to discuss various Marcellus Shale ordinance negotiations regarding Pennsylvania Act 13 with MarkWest in March. Cowden insisted that Smith had not been competent or timely with his duties or correspondence to the board regarding mediation times and requirements. Cowden said she was not aware of the requirement that all supervisors …
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
The company said in a letter that to persist in an appeal would be "fruitless" because the state's new Marcellus Shale law takes effect next month.
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. MarkWest last year filed an appeal 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 …
Friday, December 9, 2011
If you saw flames or heard rumblings out of Houston, this is what happened Thursday night.
A man in Canonsburg said it sounded like a jet was landing on East Pike Street—and that people came out of their houses to stare at the lit-up sky. A woman from as far away as the City of Washington said it was so loud that her son thought something had surely exploded. But MarkWest Liberty said in a statement Friday: Nobody was in danger. "Last night, we experienced an influx of natural gas liquids through the inlet of our Houston processing plant. As designed, our automated safety control system isolated the inlet flow and directed it to the facility’s flare while our operations staff made the necessary adjustments to the process," company spokesman Robert McHale said in a statement. It continued: "While the flare was perhaps visible to …
Monday, November 7, 2011
In an email obtained by Canon-McMillan Patch, South Fayette Manager Mike Hoy indicates he is headed to MarkWest.
South Fayette Township's manager resigned his position to work for MarkWest in its SouthPointe office, he confirmed in an email obtained by Canon-McMillan Patch. The e-mail, dated Thursday, read: From: Mike Hoy <MHoy@sftwp.com> Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2011 11:27:54 -0400 Subject: Resignation As you may have heard, I have resigned as Township Manager for South Fayette Township. My last day will be November 11, 2011. I just wanted to take a moment and thank those people that I had the pleasure to either work with or had the pleasure to meet as a result of my employment with South Fayette Township. For almost 11 years, I was provided the great opportunity of working for one of the finest Townships in Western Pennsylvania. I would like to think that …
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Cecil Township supervisors met for the seventh time regarding the pending ordinance governing compressor stations—and while some common ground was found with MarkWest, the hearing was again continued.
Cecil Township Board Chairman Mike Debbis said it over and over again: "It's not about you." His comments to MarkWest's special counsel Chris Rimkus were made during the board's public hearing regarding an ordinance that would make compressor stations related to Marcellus Shale drilling a conditional use—the seventh held on the issue. Debbis reiterated the point several times: The final ordinance will be one that all companies will have to comply with—not just MarkWest—and explained that the conditions are in place to ensure the safety of the township's 11,000 residents. Even if the company doesn't necessarily agree with them, or think they are necessary. Rimkus, flanked by three fellow representatives from MarkWest, met with supervisors …
Saturday, September 10, 2011
A MarkWest representative said this week he was frustrated over lack of communication—so supervisors scheduled another hearing to get more input on compressor stations related to the Marcellus Shale industry.
A representative from MarkWest implored Cecil supervisors this week not to take action on an ordinance governing where compressor stations related to the Marcellus Shale industry will be permitted in the township. "I don't think the comments we've made have been addressed," associate counsel Chris Rimkus told the board during its sixth public hearing on the matter on Tuesday. He expressed frustration with the process, saying that although MarkWest had submitted comments regarding the ordinance, "I've never gotten any follow up." And Rimkus again told the board that portions of the ordinance, which would permit compressor stations as a conditional use, over-reach and are superceded by state and federal law. After some back and forth over …
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
After meeting for two hours Monday, Cecil supervisors did not make a decision regarding an ordinance governing compressor stations.
The Cecil Township meeting room Monday night was filled with supervisors, MarkWest representatives and approximately two dozen residents who again discussed compressor stations in the township—but again no resolution was reached. Many of the same issues that monopolized past public hearings again surfaced with no resolution offered. This was the fourth hearing regarding the zoning of compressor stations, which was again continued. Perhaps the largest item in the ordinance preventing the board of supervisors from finally being able to adopt it is the proposed allowable setback from other properties. In its current form, the ordinance calls for a setback of 1,500 feet from the property line of a protected structure. Christopher Rimkus, …
Monday, May 23, 2011
The notice to intervene was filed Friday in Washington County court.
Range Resources on Friday joined MarkWest in its appeal of the Cecil Township Zoning Board's denial of a special exception the company needed to build a Marcellus Shale compressor station in the community. The notice to intervene was filed in the Washington County court (document included) on behalf of Range Resources by the Southpointe-based lawfirm Fulbright & Jawarski. The document states that Range Resources, based in Southpointe, is an oil-and-gas lease holder for the property on state Route 980 and Coleman Road where MarkWest's compressor station was to be built. Range Resources spokesmen Matt Pitzarella, Mike Mackin and Jim Cannon did not immediately return messages left on their cell phones seeking comment Monday.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Associate counsel Chris Rimkus said Friday that an appeal of the Cecil Township zoning board's denial of its special exception to install a compressor station is to 'preserve our rights.'
MarkWest on Thursday filed an appeal regarding Cecil Township zoning board's denial of its special request to install a compressor station for Marcellus Shale gas near Coleman Road—but a spokesman said the company was still hopeful an "amiable" resolution could be reached. "We (appealed) to preserve our rights," associate counsel Chris Rimkus said Friday morning. "If we can work out a solution that works for us and works for the township, that would be the best option." In the 12-page appeal, MarkWest asserts it "did everything we one would expect of a committed corporate citizen operating in the township before proceeding with its proposed facility." It goes on to state: "After the hearings, in a confused and unsupported decision, the …
proud American
12:57 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012
people who hate the gas industry what do you suggest we put on that land for our future energy need. Windmills, solar panels we all know how well those sources of energy are doing does the word bankrupt come to mind. more ›