by Morgan Myers
HANEYVILLE - In a unanimous bipartisan vote, Clinton County Commissioners rejected the zoning
ordinance amendment that would have permitted frack water withdrawal and treatment facilities in certain districts.
After an hour's worth of public comments almost exclusively opposed to the amendment, Commissioner Joel Long made a motion to reject it.
"This is a rural area," said Long. "I've always disagreed with the state's vision of things. They allowed drilling because they wanted some money. I can't control that but I can control this, so I will."
Commissioner Jeff Snyder seconded the motion.
"The advantages are a short list," said Snyder. "The amendment as written falls way short of meeting environmental controls."
"I wish the facilities could be built in such a way that guaranteed nothing would leak off the property, but the word 'guarantee' is a hard one," said Commissioner Pete Smeltz. "Additional research and study needs to be done. Perhaps someday there will be places you could safely install one of these facilities."
The amendment was drafted to take advantage of a regulatory loophole in the now-suspended zoning portions of Act 13. The proposed ordinance would have re-zoned portions of East and West Keating, Grugan, Noyes, Gallagher, Logan and Colebrook townships for industrial use. Residents of Gallagher Township were particularly concerned due to Hawbaker Engineering's plan to build a frack water treatment facility along the Coudersport Pike if the amendment passed.
During the comment period a Hawbaker Engineering employee whose family has lived in the area for generations spoke up: "[The gas industry] is already permitted to do the same treatment on pads that they're proposing to do in a centralized facility."
Others remained concerned. "The changes I've seen in 10 years have been remarkable," said one Gallagher Township resident. "At one time the roughest ride to town was when you had to follow a school bus. Now there's lines of tankers, traffic, diesel fumes, and animals hit on the road."
"I really agree with a treatment facility because it would cut down on removing water from the streams," said Wayne Runes, a property-owner along the Old Coudersport Pike. "But we should protect the beauty of the woods we have here."
The proposed ordinance would have allowed frack water withdrawal facilities in Agricultural and Nature Conservation Districts, and frack water withdrawal and treatment facilities in Rural Forest and Rural Industrial Districts.
"An industrial site in a Nature Conservation District? That's ridiculous," said one Gallagher Township resident.
The Commissioners held a vote publicly rejecting the amendment at the end of the hearing.
"Hawbaker Engineering will probably move the operation over into Lycoming County, where we'll still have the impact on Route 44, " said Tim Holladay, Clinton County Planner. "Or, they'll challenge our ordinance as exclusionary. The planning commission has discussed strategies."
"In one way or another this will be back," said Commissioner Snyder after the meeting. "Still, our job is to represent the interests of the residents."