Bucking Recent Trend, Beaver County Township Passes Drilling Ordinance

Scott Detrow

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Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

September 14, 2011 | 11:32 AM

Scott Detrow / StateImpact Pennsylvania

A Tioga County drilling rig

It seems like more local governments are repealing local drilling ordinances these days, rather than passing them.
That’s not the case in Brighton Township, Beaver County, where supervisors passed a measure last night regulating noise, road use and emissions from drillers. The ordinance also creates a $500-per-well fee, as the Beaver County Times’ J.D. Prose reports:

BRIGHTON TWP. — With Marcellus shale drilling expected to come to Brighton Township sooner rather than later, supervisors unanimously passed an amended ordinance Monday that addresses noise, emissions, road use and other issues.
Township Manager Bryan Dehart said the ordinance, which covers oil and gas drilling as well as mineral extraction, implements standards for drilling companies and offers protection for Brighton residents.

“We’re trying to strike a balance,” Dehart said. “The ordinance isn’t designed to prohibit oil and gas drilling or regulate them out of doing it.”
Dehart said no companies have sought to drill in the township yet, but lease agreements indicate that they are being active in acquiring rights. “We expect (drilling) at some point in the future,” he said.
Under the ordinance, drilling companies must pay a $500 per well fee to the township and submit a slew of information about their plans to the zoning officer at least 10 days prior to starting work.

Whether or not local governments can regulate drilling has become a contentious issue: This American Life devoted an entire program to the topic this summer. In West Virginia, several municipalities have repealed harsh regulations, after push-back from the industry.
Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati’s impact fee bill, which will likely be debated this fall, includes language barring municipalities from receiving fee money, if their ordinances are deemed too strict.