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The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) Thursday declined to stop work on four natural gas test wells in Wayne County's Manchester and Damascus Townships.
The stoppage had been requested by the Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS).
Opposing the request were the Northern Wayne Property Owners Alliance (NWPOA), Newfield Appalachia LLC and Wayne County businessman Allan J. Nowicki.
“We're very pleased with DRBC's decision,” said Alliance executive director Marian Schweighofer. “As it was shaping up, if the commission had granted the Damascus Citizens' request, those test wells would have been stopped in their tracks through the winter. The cost in dollars would have been in the millions, and the environmental costs could have been even worse.”
At the end of last week, the Damascus Citizens — joined by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN) — had electronically filed a request that the DRBC issue a “supersedeas” to immediately stop all work on the wells until a hearing could be conducted on whether the DRBC acted properly in authorizing them.
Typically, a “supersedeas” is an order issued by a superior court staying the enforcement of a judgment by a lower court until the judgment can be reviewed on appeal.
In late May, the Damascus Citizens had requested a regulatory review by the DRBC of a "determination" made earlier that month by executive director Carol Collier to allow work to go forward on four of the test wells Newfield Appalachia had planned in Manchester and Damascus Townships.
At their regular July meeting, the commissioners voted to grant the DCS hearing request, while allowing Newfield to continue work on its four test wells.
But by then the Alliance had requested a regulatory review of Collier's determination because it had blocked more than a dozen other test wells that Newfield and the Hess Corp. had planned in northern Wayne County.
The basin commission voted to grant the Alliance hearing request and to consolidate it with the DCS request. Judge Edward Cahn, a former chief U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, has agreed to conduct the consolidated hearing, which has now been scheduled for Dec. 13 through 17, tentatively at a federal courtroom in Easton.
Judge Cahn is expected to announce his recommendations to the DRBC sometime in January.
The DRBC, however, will not meet in the new year until March, and while two of the Newfield test wells have been completed since the wrangling over them began, work has begun on the other two.
Had the commission granted the supersedeas request, further work on those two wells would have been stopped until sometime in March at the very least.
This would have left unsecured worksites exposed to the elements through the winter.
In addition to the Newfield wells in Manchester and Damascus, work is now about to begin on the two Hess test wells planned for Buckingham Township.
The two groups requesting the supersedeas had also asked for a hearing on Carol Collier's decision to allow those two wells, which was announced at the July DRBC meeting.
The commission voted Thursday to grant the request and to include it in the consolidated hearing already scheduled before Judge Cahn.
The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) Thursday declined to stop work on four natural gas test wells in Wayne County's Manchester and Damascus Townships.
The stoppage had been requested by the Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS).
Opposing the request were the Northern Wayne Property Owners Alliance (NWPOA), Newfield Appalachia LLC and Wayne County businessman Allan J. Nowicki.
“We're very pleased with DRBC's decision,” said Alliance executive director Marian Schweighofer. “As it was shaping up, if the commission had granted the Damascus Citizens' request, those test wells would have been stopped in their tracks through the winter. The cost in dollars would have been in the millions, and the environmental costs could have been even worse.”
At the end of last week, the Damascus Citizens — joined by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN) — had electronically filed a request that the DRBC issue a “supersedeas” to immediately stop all work on the wells until a hearing could be conducted on whether the DRBC acted properly in authorizing them.
Typically, a “supersedeas” is an order issued by a superior court staying the enforcement of a judgment by a lower court until the judgment can be reviewed on appeal.
In late May, the Damascus Citizens had requested a regulatory review by the DRBC of a "determination" made earlier that month by executive director Carol Collier to allow work to go forward on four of the test wells Newfield Appalachia had planned in Manchester and Damascus Townships.
At their regular July meeting, the commissioners voted to grant the DCS hearing request, while allowing Newfield to continue work on its four test wells.
But by then the Alliance had requested a regulatory review of Collier's determination because it had blocked more than a dozen other test wells that Newfield and the Hess Corp. had planned in northern Wayne County.
The basin commission voted to grant the Alliance hearing request and to consolidate it with the DCS request. Judge Edward Cahn, a former chief U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, has agreed to conduct the consolidated hearing, which has now been scheduled for Dec. 13 through 17, tentatively at a federal courtroom in Easton.
Judge Cahn is expected to announce his recommendations to the DRBC sometime in January.
The DRBC, however, will not meet in the new year until March, and while two of the Newfield test wells have been completed since the wrangling over them began, work has begun on the other two.
Had the commission granted the supersedeas request, further work on those two wells would have been stopped until sometime in March at the very least.
This would have left unsecured worksites exposed to the elements through the winter.
In addition to the Newfield wells in Manchester and Damascus, work is now about to begin on the two Hess test wells planned for Buckingham Township.
The two groups requesting the supersedeas had also asked for a hearing on Carol Collier's decision to allow those two wells, which was announced at the July DRBC meeting.
The commission voted Thursday to grant the request and to include it in the consolidated hearing already scheduled before Judge Cahn.
