What Can NEPA Zoning Officials Really Do?

Today, the Citizen's Voice is running an article on the Luzerne County Zoning Board and its actions in regard to Encana Oil & Gas. The title reads 'local officials retain some power over drilling." 

"We - local land use authorities - can regulate the 'where;' we cannot regulate the 'how.' That power, to regulate the 'how' of natural gas drilling, rests entirely with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board Chairman Larry Newman said after last week's hearing on granting Encana Oil & Gas USA Inc. conditional use to drill 10 natural gas wells in Lake and Fairmount townships.

Municipal and county planning and zoning authorities do have some say in the matter of natural gas drilling in their communities, state officials say.  "They're not completely pre-empted by any means under state law," Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger said. "They do have a role."

Having just attended the Encana slam-dunk, my impression of the zoning board was that they were intelligent, polite and at least somewhat concerned about the threats Fracking pose. When they said they were powerless, I believed them.  Then I did my homework.

Numerous zoning boards have said no to fracking and some have taken the battle as far as the supreme court.  They are not all successful.  They do demonstrate, however, a commitment to the public trust - something our board seems to lack.  

Luzerne County Zoning Board Approves 5 New Frack Wells

Everybody knew, going in, that Encana would triumph but we showed up anyway.

It was an overflow crowd mostly because the hearing was held in a relatively small room.  At least half of the people present were put outside the door in rows of metal folding chairs.  We couldn't hear anything.  And even after sunshine law concerns (by the board solicitor's own admission) prompted officials to usher us in, it bothered me that arrangements had been made to keep us out.

Encana had a slide show.  The presentation was made by a chirpy girl in too cute little sun dress.   She showed us photos of model well pads surrounded by wide expanses of flawless emerald green grass and bulleted lists of agencies who had rubber stamped the drilling so far.  The information provided was designed to make the wells appear safe and attractive.

A few members of the public were prepared.  They had read the zoning laws and had come up very valid objections.  Others talked about safety even though it was not on the table.

The county zoning board, told us that they had no real power in regard to gas and oil extraction.  They can deal with issues such as dust, odor, and noise, they maintained, but just about everything else is somebody else's responsibility.  I won't say that our officials don't care because I'm pretty sure that a few of them do.  But how deep does their commitment to the public trust run?

The county, state, and municipal response to every move the gas companies make is the same.  They can't stop it, they tell us - their power is restricted to little more than an increment.  But each increment takes us closer to looming disaster.  Each person who moves fracking forward acts against the people of Pennsylvania and the state as a whole.