The appeal was filed the same day as the A.I. data center and energy summit in Pittsburgh announced $90 billion in data center and energy projects across Pennsylvania. Read more here.
In April, Range Resources and Liberty Energy, Inc. announced an alliance to support the development of a gas-fired power plant to serve the energy needs of data center projects in Robinson Township, Washington County. Robinson Township borders Cecil Township. Read more here.
Range Resources appealed on the grounds the Zoning Board Board acted without a quorum thereby voiding the action-- even though two of the three members serving on the Board voted on the issue.
The company also said its right to due process was violated because members of the Board voting on the issue were biased.
The overall position of Range Resources is the Cecil Township ordinance “illegally exclude[s] all oil and gas development within the Township”-- even though the ordinance includes a provision allowing landowners within the 2,500 foot setback to waive the requirement.
There are five existing Range Resources well pads and existing and proposed wells already approved before the new ordinance was passed that will be grandfathered.
In addition, shale gas horizontal wells can now be drilled for more than five miles from a well pad.
The company asked Washington County Court to “undertake de novo review of the record and make independent findings of fact based on that record in order to reach conclusions of law and a decision on the merits of Range’s substantive validity challenge” to the Cecil Township ordinance.
The Center for Coalfield Justice plans to intervene in the appeal to support Cecil Township’s actions.
“This issue matters for communities where oil and gas development is a common practice,” said Ethan Story, Esq., Advocacy Director for the Center. “It's about whether a community can set reasonable boundaries on industrial activity to protect its people, and whether the oil and gas industry can use its influence and legal power to undermine local decisions made through the democratic process.
“And this shows how important it is for a community to have the right to govern land use, prioritize public health, and plan for a sustainable future,” said Story.
Click Here for a Center Blog post on the Cecil Township ordinance.
There is no schedule yet for consideration of the appeal in Washington County Court.
Click Here for a copy of the appeal.
MarkWest Liberty Midstream also filed a legal challenge to the Cecil Township ordinance directly to Washington County Court. Read more here.
Background On Dismissal
On June 16, Cecil Township Supervisor Cindy Fisher announced in a Facebook post that “Cecil Township’s Zoning Hearing Board voted 2-0 to dismiss Range Resources substantive validity challenge. Read more here.
The Board ruled the company did not have standing and the case was “not ripe.”
A Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Adjudication Documents was adopted by the Zoning Hearing Board laying out the facts and conclusions in the case, according to the Board.
The Board concluded--
-- “[Range Resources] has not demonstrated that either the 2024 Ordinance and/or the 2025 Ordinance prohibits or restricts the use or development of land in which Range has an interest…” “
-- “Because neither the 2024 Ordinance nor the 2025 Ordinance were ever applied to Range, Range lacks standing to challenge the validity of the ordinances.”
-- “Neither Ordinance, on their face, excludes well pads or oil and gas development.”
-- “The impact of the Ordinances on Range are purely hypothetical, inasmuch as Range is not directly affected until it is prevented from doing something that it wants to do.”
-- “Because the impacts of the Ordinances on Range are purely hypothetical (i.e. the Ordinances have not been applied to Range and there has been no threat of enforcement), the issues before the Board are not adequately developed for review.”
-- “Because the Board has determined that Range does not have standing to file the Application and that the issues set forth in the Application are not ripe, it declines to rule on the other issues presented, including, but not limited to, whether the enactment of the 2025 Ordinance rendering the Application moot or whether Range carried its burden in demonstrating that the 2024 Ordinance and the 2025 Ordinance exclude a lawful use from the Township.”
The Zoning Hearing Board held hearings and heard arguments on the Range Resources challenge January 20, February 17, April 21 and June 12.
The Ordinance
In November 2024, Cecil Township Supervisors adopted the ordinance requiring a 2,500 foot setback from homes and businesses and a 5,000 foot setback from hospitals and schools from shale gas wells. Read more here.
The 25-page ordinance also gives property owners the ability to waive the setback, if all property owners within the 2,500 foot setback agree to a waiver.
The minimum setback in state law and regulations is 500 feet from a shale gas wellhead.
Senate Republicans Vote To Punish Communities
On May 7, 2025, Republicans on the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee voted to report out legislation-- Senate Bill 102 (Bartolotta-R-Washington, Yaw-R-Lycoming)-- to punish communities taking steps to protect their residents from the health and environmental impacts of shale gas drilling by withholding Act 13 drilling impact fees.
The legislation introduced by Sen. Bartolotta was prompted by the adoption of the 2,500 foot setback ordinance by Cecil Township..
Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R-Washington) represents Cecil Township in the state Senate.
The bill is now in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
(Photos: top- Range Resources Augustine Drill Pad in Cecil Township; Augustine Drill Pad showing scale of operation; bottom- Map of Shale gas wells (red dots), conventional oil and gas wells (blue/green dots) in Cecil Township (DEP Oil & Gas Program); 523 feet from nearest house; Well pad gas flare from bedroom window near Augustine well pad (WTAE). Other photos Courtesy of The Energy Age Blog.)
Resource Links:
PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:
-- Coterra Energy Fined $299,000 For Contaminating 13 Private Water Supplies In Lenox Twp., Susquehanna County - Just A Few Miles From Dimock [PaEN]
-- Pin Oak Energy Partners Signs Consent Order With DEP To Address Its Failure To Restore 16 Shale Gas Well Sites And An Impoundment In Beaver County Since 2023 [PaEN]
-- DEP: Second Spill From Horizontal Drilling At EQM Gathering Pipeline Construction Project In Washington County Contaminates Spring [PaEN]
-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - August 2 [PaEN]
-- DEP Posted 69 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In August 2 PA Bulletin [PaEN]
[Posted: August 4, 2025] PA Environment Digest
No comments :
Post a Comment