Pennsylvania Town Votes To Allow 6 Fracking Wells Within 3,000 Feet Of School Buildings | ThinkProgress

At a township public meeting Wednesday night, Rex Energy came one step closer to having those permits approved. Middlesex supervisors Michael Spreng, Donald P. Marshall, and James Evans voted unanimously to approve changes to the town’s zoning laws that would legally open up residential and agricultural lands for drilling, despite the protests of concerned parents and residents.

That zoning law change has wider implications for the town in the long run, but at the moment, it has everything to do with the schools.

“In essence, the ordinance opens up most of the township to drilling,” said John Neurohr, communications director at Keystone Progress, who also lives in a development adjacent to the well site. “But it’s pretty clear to an objective observer that the ordinance was written to make it very clear that the Geyer farm’s wells are allowed in the township.”

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At the public meeting, though, residents were not uniformly in opposition to the proposed wells. Multiple people spoke out in favor of unmitigated fracking, saying the parents were making a big deal out of a small thing.

“You’re scared of drilling rigs? Well let me tell you, I’ve been on thousands of them,” one resident said. “It’s not as bad as you think.”

Kim Geyer, whose property would house the Rex Energy wells, confirmed to ThinkProgress that the ordinance was important for the project, but mostly spoke about the need for Pennsylvania to get all of its energy from within the state.

“We need energy independence in the United States,” she said. “For that to happen, people have to allow unconventional drilling.”

What is missing from this article,,,

Kim Geyer, 51, secretary for Butler County Commissioner William Pinkerton, serves on XTO Energy's community advisory panel, a role she said educated her about the drilling industry,,,She also is a former president of the Mars Area School Board.

Which according to TP, "The company had even tried to get the school to participate in the drilling process, offering the school board $1 million if they agreed to lease their underground land for horizontal drilling. But in March, the Mars Area School board rejected the lease offer." This is the same school board Geyer was president of that voted against drilling under the school.

Also missing, XTO Energy, the advisory board Geyer sits on, is a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil. It would appear that Ms. Geyer's education on fracking safety comes from a biased source; a company with a history of illegal dumping and fines.

I have to agree with this comment left by Mountain Man,

In a year or two we will be reading about how Kim Geyer is taking the Frackers to court over undisclosed issues that were not covered in specific terms in her contract, but, rather included as a sub category within giving the most vague descriptions that have been.... and can be..... easily flopped to benefit the drillers. She will cry " I can't sleep" "My kids are sick " " our water and neighbors water has gone bad". They never told me this would or could possibly happen. No Kim, but WE are telling you right now. [Edited for spelling]

Pennsylvania Town Votes To Allow 6 Fracking Wells Within 3,000 Feet Of School Buildings | ThinkProgress


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This is some of what we face here in our community. This does not take into account the numerous back and forth trips of the water trucks that travel in groups of 4-7 on a daily, 24/7 basis.