Fayette County Commissioner table injection well ordinance
Courtesy of David Smith
The Fayette County commissioners tabled a motion to create a subsection in the county’s zoning ordinance for injection wells.
The board voted unanimously to do so in an effort to further strengthen the regulations.
“We want to make sure everything is absolutely 100% correct,” Commissioner Scott Dunn said at Thursday’s voting meeting.
“We’re getting really close on this,” said Commissioner Vince Vicites. “I’m anxious to get this implemented, but we want to get this right.”
Commissioners were prompted to implement the change in response to an application for an injection well that was filed in July.
G2 STEM LLC submitted an application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for an injection well in Nicholson Township. The permit would have allowed the company to dispose of fluids associated with oil and gas production into the township’s Balltown Sandstone Formation about 3,400 feet underground.
Once word of the application spread, Nicholson Township residents, supervisors and the Mountain Watershed Association (MWA), a conservation organization in Melcroft, voiced their opposition of the injection well, noting concerns that fracking water contains hazardous materials and could threaten public and private water supplies.
In August, following the response from the community, G2 STEM withdrew its application.
“I would be remiss to not recognize the extensive and unanimous efforts that our county commissioners have done to not only hear residents of Fayette County, but work together on a municipal, county and state level to get a really good thing done,” said Stacey Magda, MWA managing community organizer at Thursday’s meeting.
Magda said she and the MWA know that the amendment is not an outright ban on injection wells in the county.
“We understand the complexities an outright ban would mean regarding legal ramifications and even potential issues with other types of development,” she said.
The amendment, in part, allows wells of specific classes to be used by special exception within the M-1 Light Industrial and M-2 Heavy-Industrial zoning districts. The amendment also puts into place other standards and requirements if they are permitted.
However, Magda said, MWA officials believe there are possible areas of improvement that could be made to the zoning amendment.
She specifically noted that the proposed amendment required a setback of 500 feet from homes, schools, hospitals or other buildings. While that is consistent with state regulations, she said there are studies that recommend a 2,500-foot setback.
“Maybe we can take a look at that setback language,” Dunn said.
In other business, the commissioners announced that there are two openings on the FACT Executive Committee, each for a three-year term, and one alternate position for the Fayette County Zoning Hearing Board.
Anyone interested in serving on those boards should send a letter of interest to Chief Clerk Amy Revak at arevak@fayettepa.org.