Range Resources Fights Township's Rejection of its Drill Permits in Washington County

• Marie Cusick
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  Marie Cusick was the Harrisburg reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania.

Range Resources has filed an appeal in Washington County Court, after its application to drill at two sites in Robinson Township was rejected, according to the Observer-Reporter:

Range Resources claims township supervisors abused their discretion and failed to apply the appropriate legal standards when they denied the company’s conditional use applications Feb. 12 to drill on Rodger C. and Susan Kendall and Robert M. Frame and Michelle F. Parees properties on Foley Road and Midway-Candor Road, respectively, court records show.
The three supervisors unanimously rejected the applications, saying Range provided insufficient documents and failed to comply with criteria set forth in municipal codes, including improper submission of a site plan and failure to demonstrate the operations would comply with noise standards …
The rejection, he said, came down to two things. Range didn’t perform a sound study or complete a site plan identifying the roads and buildings in and around the drilling sites.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling soon on a controversial portion of last year’s new Act 13 law, which restricts the ability of local governments to prohibit drilling operations.
American Public Media’s Marketplace recently paid a visit to Washington County to cover the debate over who gets to regulate gas drilling.

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