The long-sought approval Monday of a Marcellus Shale natural gas compressor station does not necessarily mean one will be built in Cecil anytime soon, an energy company representative said.
“This station isn’t going to be built tomorrow,” said Christopher Rimkus, managing counsel for MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources. “We’re still exploring our options. People don’t want us. We know that they don’t want this.”
The township has been fighting the compressor station, proposed to be built on Route 980 near Route 50, since November 2010, when the company submitted its application. The issue wended its way through the courts since then, eventually landing in Commonwealth Court, which on April 15 ruled in favor of the company and declined to hear additional appeals from the township.
The court gave the township 45 days to approve the project, which expired May 30. MarkWest last month agreed to delay action for 30 days to give both parties time to reach an agreement over conditions.
Mr. Rimkus, the father of three, recently sat through two public hearings, listening to hours of testimony from residents concerned about their children developing cancer and other ailments from substances that could be released from a compressor station.
“I try to impress upon the parties that no one involved in the process — on either side — should have ill intent because it is difficult to engage in productive dialogue if one operates under the assumption that the other party is immoral and/or dishonest,” said Mr. Rimkus, who has a degree in poetry. “I think respecting the perspectives of everyone in the community is essential to these hearings having the purpose and benefit they are intended to convey.”
Mr. Rimkus said he wasn’t prepared for the level of contempt aimed at him or his company by residents.
“I was surprised, and genuinely disappointed by some of the rhetoric and treatment of fellow citizens by their neighbors in Cecil,” he said of the past two hearings, which drew more than 100 residents. “I have worked in a great many townships and municipalities, but I don't recall witnessing the level of vitriol that some in the community expressed toward others.”
On Monday, the Denver-based company was unanimously given the go-ahead to construct a compressor station, but the three-member zoning board attached 26 conditions, giving the township some control over noise levels, safety measures and toxic emissions from a flare.
The zoning board approved the first 24 conditions that had been agreed upon between the parties over the last month. But after hearing additional testimony from residents on Monday, the board added two more conditions that were more controversial.
One was a requirement to hire an independent third party to test water and air pollution levels before and after the station is operational. The other calls for up to five electric or eight natural gas-powered engines. The condition stipulates that the company must first attempt to install electric engines, which produce fewer toxic emissions. If that isn’t possible, the company must submit evidence to the zoning board and ask for an exception.
Mr. Rimkus said he was surprised by the additional requirements.
“I think they could be problematic,” he said.
He said that meetings with Duquesne Light Co. four years ago, and again two weeks ago, indicated that a transmission line couldn’t be installed near the site for at least two years due to infrastructure and capacity issues.
“Unfortunately, they cannot bring power there anytime soon,” he said of the power company.
Residents, though, repeatedly asked for the electric engines, citing another station in nearby Robinson that the company built with electric engines instead of gas.
“We’re not asking for wind or solar or something they haven’t done before,” resident Doug Worsinki said.
Other conditions include a limit on noise levels, along with monitoring by a third party, training and guidelines for first responders, and the inclusion of vapor recovery units or other technology to control emissions from the flare.
No residents spoke in favor of the project on Monday, although last month one person said he believed the compressor station would be a “key component to the development of oil and gas” in the township. He cited the loss of millions of dollars in impact fees from drillers and said Cecil garnered just $20,000 in fees last year.
“To me, it’s blood money,” said parent Julie Devulno, who became emotional on Monday when speaking about the issue. “I’d rather drive on bumpy roads than sit by the bedside of a sick child.”
Mr. Rimkus said the project could be moved forward if more wells were located in the township by MarkWest’s partner, Range Resources.
“We’re contractually obligated to go gather [natural gas from the wells] if Range installs wells nearby,” he said.
Janice Crompton: jcrompton@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1159.
First Published: June 19, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
