Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The idea was approved Monday by a vote of 3-2.
Cecil Township supervisors on Monday voted to hold a private meeting with Southpointe-based Marcellus Shale company Range Resources. The vote was approved by a vote of 3-2. Supervisors Andy Schrader and Mike Debbis cast the dissenting votes. In the discussion leading up to the vote, Supervisor Elizabeth Cowden said she hoped such a meeting would lead to more cooperation instead of litigation. Range Resources and Cecil Township are in court over a Right to Know issue. The company has also joined with MarkWest to appeal a decision regarding a compressor station off Coleman Road. Cowden also cited a Burkes County court case in which a quorum of supervisors met privately on a fact-finding mission without breaking the Sunshine Law. Cowden also …
40.318751
-80.217833
Cecil Township
3599 Millers Run Rd, Cecil, PA
/articles/cecil-supervisors-vote-to-have-private-meeting-with-range-resources
831714
/locations/9362721
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Mark West Liberty Midstream & Resources has agreed to install appropriately sized emergency vents on its condensate storage tanks and adopt an approved maintenance schedule at all 14 of its compressor stations in Washington and Butler counties.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday two separate settlements with companies that have agreed to improve operation of their natural gas facilities in western Pennsylvania, and Washington County specifically. EPA alleged that the companies failed to comply with federal clean air regulations to prevent accidental releases of flammable substances. Mark West Liberty Midstream & Resources has agreed to install appropriately sized emergency vents on its condensate storage tanks and adopt an approved maintenance schedule at all 14 of its compressor stations in Washington and Butler counties. The Mark West compressor stations receive natural gas from well sites, separate out the liquids from the natural gas and route the …
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
The senator from Canonsburg reintroduced a resolution asking for a study to be conducted to determine the possible benefits of converting more state vehicles to natural gas.
State Sen. Tim Solobay is again urging the Department of General Services to study whether it should convert more state vehicles to run on natural gas. Solobay has reintroduced a resolution in support of a study and is asking colleagues to support it. “Pennsylvania is at the forefront of the natural gas industry and our resource supply puts us in a position to reap great benefits from using this asset wisely,” he said. “One of the ways in which we can do this is by setting an example for the commonwealth by using natural gas in our state fleet.” Many gasoline-powered vehicles can be cost-effectively converted to run on natural gas, Solobay said. While many private companies have converted truck fleets to take advantage of historically low…
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
The Southpointe-based company asked a Washington County Court judge to recuse himself from hearing the case. He responded Monday with an order explaining why he won't.
A Washington County Court of Common Pleas judge has declined to recuse himself in a case between Range Resources and Robinson Township despite a request from the Southpointe-based company to do just that. “The court finds that (Range Resources’) stated reasons for seeking recusal, the involvement of the (Judge John DiSalle’s) spouse with the Peters Township Marcellus Shale Awareness Group in the summer of 2011, has not in any way affected the Court’s ability to hear the case fairly and impartiality, and that such activity does not constitute a circumstance where the court’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned under the Code of Judicial Conduct,” DiSalle wrote in an opinion filed Monday. The opinion also stated: “The Court has …
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
The companies filed separate notices of appeal.
MarkWest and Range Resoures have appealed a Washington County judge's decision regarding a special exception to build a natural gas compressor station in Cecil Township. The companies filed separate notices of appeal last week, township officials said. The case will go to the Commonwealth Court. Judge John DiSalle had denied the appeal in a decision last month. "After careful review of the record...the court is satisfied that the zoning hearing board vigilantly considered all of the relevant evidence and used sound discretion in reaching the conclusion that MarkWest had failed to meet its burden to demonstrate that the proposed compressor facility was of the same general character of other permitted uses within the I1 light industrial zone…
Monday, February 25, 2013
The Southpointe-based company and its spokesman were blasted by a Wallstreet website last week.
Marcellus Shale innovator Range Resources, based in Southpointe, was criticized by a Wall Street investment website last week for taking a "shock-and-awe approach to dealing with anyone who questions the safety of its fracking operations." According to The Motley Fool story titled "Are Corporate Bullies Bad Investments?," Range Resources has "sued or intimidated activists, homeowners, and public officials, sometimes for little more than asking questions." The website sites the company's suit against Robinson Township in Washington County, as well as other incidents. "Range should pick on someone its own size," the website noted. "Naturally, the company calls this characterization unfair." Although it was not mentioned in the story, Cecil …
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
He said that DEP Secretary Michael Krancer will not participate in an upcoming public hearing.
State Rep. Jesse White said that if he was Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer, he wouldn't be able to look the people of Pennsylvania in the eye. White, D-Cecil, will host a policy committee hearing on the state Department of Environmental Protection’s response to environmental testing in Marcellus Shale regions from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 19 in the public meeting room of Washington Courthouse Square, 100 West Beau St., Washington, PA 15301. The event is open to the public, and Pennsylvania Cable News channel will record the hearing for future broadcast. The hearing will examine the DEP’s policies and procedures related to air- and water-quality testing near Marcellus Shale gas drilling sites in Pennsylvania, …
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
The blog was supposed to be written by Cecil's Janice Gibbs. But the user name was from an Energy In Depth staffer. What's up with that?
Dear Energy In Depth, I'll just put my cards out on the table here: I don't know what kind of unit you're running over there. First off, and by way of background for those unfamiliar with your operations: I understand that my website and yours are different. Mine is journalism-based. And as a reporter who has worked for a laundry list of newspapers over the years, I can tell you that accuracy, objectivity and fairness are cornerstones of every one of those organizations. Second: While yours might be a site that is funded by the Marcellus Shale industry, your "about us" section indicates that you folks have some high standards. Let me quote, if I may: "Launched in April 2011, the Northeast Marcellus Initiative is a natural gas industry …
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
A notice was filed in Washington County court on Monday.
Southpointe-based Range Resources has filed a notice in Washington County court that it intends to sue Cecil Township. The one-page document was filed Monday. No further information on the suit was immediately available Tuesday. Editor's Note: Follow Canon-McMillan Patch for further details as they become available.
'The Corbett Administration has adopted a policy of deciding what we deserve to know, and they apparently feel you don’t deserve to know if there are cancer-causing toxic chemicals in your water. It may sound harsh, but it’s simply the truth.'
In November 2012, it was revealed that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection was only giving the public partial data for water quality tests conducted near Marcellus Shale drilling sites. The DEP uses something called a ‘suite code’—a three-digit number that tells the computer what information to pull out of the computers at the DEP laboratory and pass on to DEP Field Agents who write the reports to tell you whether your water is impacted or contaminated. Through depositions of DEP officials, we learned that Suite Code 942 was being used, which only gives results for eight of the 24 metals the DEP must test for. Several scathing letters written to me from DEP Sec. Michael Krancer, who Gov. Tom Corbett appointed, implied …
40.1883
-80.234
State Rep. Jesse White
3855 Millers Run Road, Cecil, PA
/articles/dep-developed-a-water-test-for-marcellus-shale-impacts-but-never-used-it-ever
1819720
/locations/8706062
Joe Ellipses
7:50 am on Monday, May 13, 2013
Guess Mr. Shrader is against it.... According to the O/R... (http://www.observer-reporter.com/article/20130511/OPINION02/130519879#.UZDTEaKoq30 ) GOOD for Mr. Shrader!!!! more ›