Letter to the editor: Fracking in Murrysville

We urge the Commonwealth Court to reject the misguided request by the Murrysville Watch Committee to overturn the municipality’s 4-year-old ordinance allowing unconventional drilling such as hydraulic fracturing in rural- residential overlay districts (“Citizen group appeals to Commonwealth Court to overturn Murrysville fracking ordinance,” May 11, TribLIVE).

As the May 10 court hearing made clear, the overlay districts were approved after Murrysville Council spent seven years working on the concept and ensuring it fully conformed to the municipality’s comprehensive plan for the future.

That plan envisioned that unconventional drilling would be permitted only in about 5% of an overlay district and where future residential development is unlikely. It also established a minimum 750-foot setback from any protected structure, well above the state’s minimum 500-foot setback. Overlay districts allow mineral removal and major forestry. Would the committee oppose those uses?

It seems clear that Murrysville, at 37 square miles in size, is a sprawling area when contrasted with Pittsburgh, the state’s second largest city in population that is just 58.3 square miles. Murrysville has the space to accommodate environmentally sound production that creates reliable and affordable energy for Pennsylvanians. That limited use also will generate tax revenue and economic growth, neither of which we can ever have too much of.

Michael Butler

Downtown

Michael Butler is the mid-Atlantic director for Consumer Energy Alliance.