Gas Drillers Look to Use Ford City Brownfields

by Jonathan Weaver

Vacant land near the Ford City Veterans Bridge may be in-use by next year for Marcellus Shale operations if an agreement is made.

Last night at Ford City Borough Council’s regular meeting, PennEnergy Resources Land Manager Zach Dixon and Construction Compliance Manager Joe Schwab discussed preliminary conversations to lease up to five acres in the Ford City brownfields.

“Generally, this facility will withdraw clean water from the Allegheny River, hold it in a tank facility and will then be used at PennEnergy’s operations in-and-around the region,” Dixon said. “With about 48-50,000 acres under lease around Ford City, we have a significant demand for water – these facilities are important for our operation and keeping the oil and natural gas operations continuous in nature.

“We have facilities that are operating basically 24/7 on creeks around Freedom Borough, Butler County, for a very, very similar type of withdrawal from the Ohio River.”

If approved, Ford City Borough would receive an upfront bonus of $10,000, plus a $2,400 annual payment depending on the number of acres utilized.

Dixon said the proposal would not impact the Ford City Trail, but Schwab was thinking of utilizing Fifth Street and Hill Street to access Route 422 – something Borough Council President Carol Fenyes disagreed with.

Resident Vicki Schaub also opposed Schwab’s idea for “quite-a-few trucks” to drive through town during fracking operations. She said she has photographed sinking roadways and sidewalks due to the truck traffic – repairs Borough residents then have to fix.

“I hope Council does their homework on that. Maybe this is a good opportunity, but is it in the long run?” Schaub asked.

Fenyes said Fifth Avenue was not being discussed at the beginning of the Finance Committee’s discussion in June.

“When we originally talked with (PennEnergy), they indicated (utilizing) the Veterans Bridge only, but (last night), they talked about Hill Street or Fifth Avenue – that’s totally different,” Fenyes said. “I live on Fifth Avenue – I know what the coal trucks do. Your whole house shakes.”

Fenyes said last night’s discussion further helped council members evaluate community needs and assurances needed.

“Regarding permitting and road bonding, that’s something we have to flush out with PennDOT or Ford City Borough,” Dixon concluded.

Council Vice-President Tyson Klukan proposed the use of Second Avenue, but said more discussions need to take place – the latter of which a majority of council members agreed with.

“Obviously, we still have some things we need to work out,” Fenyes said.

Schwab explained fracking usually takes about 10 days per well, with an average of three or four wells per pad.

During high peak time, PennEnergy withdraws about a million fresh water gallons per day.

“We won’t pull that much out of (the Allegheny River) – this is primarily a trucking point,” Schwab said.

The site would also be permitted via a Department of Environmental Protection water management plan to allow the removal of water conditioned upon following health and safety guidelines.

In addition to the water pumps, up to a half-dozen rack tanks approximately 40 foot long are proposed to sit alongside the river as part of the agreement.

If approved, Dixon and Schaub hope for the site to be operational by next year.

In addition to this proposal, council members are discussing the brownfields also being a recreational area with a local resident.

The land is currently zoned light-industrial. Property along the river from Belleflex Technologies to Dogtown is zoned industrial.

5 Comments

• 

  By Rainbow Rider, September 13, 2016 @ 10:45 AM

  Sounds like a stupid idea. Not near enough money for the trouble it’ll cause. This water is important enough to them that it should be worth way more. The traffic mess and road destruction it’ll lead to wouldn’t make it worth it at any price in my opinion. Ford City needs $ but not at the expense of all that makes the town good. These frackers are looking to take advantage of F.C.’s financial plight.
  Don’t ruin the town!
• 

  By ktown_kid, September 13, 2016 @ 11:17 AM

  Why does it seem that everytime there is a chance for job growth or something that may help for future uses, people complain to shut it down. Those coal trucks do not shake your whole house!! If that’s the case you better check your structure. I can recall the fine citizens of Clinton shutting down the efforts of anheiser busch. They wanted to setup in the area where the clementine mine is. Those jobs would of paid 20-30 dollars an hour. The coal mine came in, people still complain. The beer plant would of been alot better but some people’s mouth causes the problem. Those water trucks are not hurting anything. If ford city council wakes up they could force them to bond the roads they use. That money goes towards repairs so cousin it on the lower end won’t be needing to sling some cold patch in a bump in the road from a truck.
• 

  By jd718, September 13, 2016 @ 11:34 AM

  Sounds pretty Cheap to me. Let see what comes up? What no Royalties?
• 

  By Just sayin, September 13, 2016 @ 11:40 AM

  Don’t Judas your own town and sell it out for a few bucks. They shouldn’t be taking our water.
  Noise pollution…air pollution…earth pollution…
  Ford City is becoming Ford _ _ itty. Sure, make it more polluted than it already is with the stench of sewer smells everywhere. It’s becoming a hole.
• 

  By futureconcerned, September 13, 2016 @ 11:44 AM

  $2400 equates to $200 per month for 5 acres of Industrial property. That sounds very low ball to me.

Other Links to this Post

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.