Residents Speak Out Against Gas Processing Plant Proposed for Jackson Township

Jackson Township’s Board of Supervisors had a packed house Monday for a hearing on a proposed natural gas processing plant on Hartmann Road.

The nearly three-hour hearing reviewed a proposed conditional-use application for construction and operation of the Bluestone Gas Processing Plant, which would extract natural gas liquids. Owned by Keystone Midstream LLC, which also owns a similar processing facility on Route 528 in Forward Township, the plant would be located on 71 acres along Hartmann Road and process Marcellus Shale gas for Rex Energy.

The property is zoned for manufacturing use. It is bordered by a landfill, a dairy farm, and the headquarters for Advanced Polymer Technology.

Members of Marcellus Outreach Butler, who oppose the plant’s proposed location in Jackson Township, attended the meeting. Last week, the group also that would allow drilling for Marcellus Shale gas on district property.

Some attendees at Monday’s meeting carried signs that said “Don’t Gas Our Kids” and “The Risk is Too High.” The plant’s proposed location is about a mile from Seneca Valley’s secondary campus.

Marcellus Outreach Butler member Dianne Arnold said at least 20 people at Monday’s hearing spoke in opposition to the plant. Arnold, a Middlesex Township resident who also spoke at the meeting, said she used to be in favor of Marcellus Shale drilling. Then she read up on drilling and discovered the health risks associated with it, she said.

“Now I’m horrified,” she said.

Marcellus Shale gas drilling involves extracting natural gas from shale rock. Some people have raised concerns about environmental and public health risks posed by drilling. Others have as a boon to the local economy.

Michael Brinkmeyer, who spoke on behalf of Keystone, said no drilling would occur at the plant. The facility would use a high-pressure pipeline gathering system to bring gas out of the wellheads in the area and into the processing plant.

He added that the company met the requirements for a conditional use in a manufacturing district. The plant, he said, also has filed for an air emissions permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

He said the facility would be staffed around the clock and would not be harmful to the public. It would emit no air, odor or light pollution, he said.

The plant is designed to process 50 million cubic feet of gas per day and would service several wells already in the area, he said.

“We do not drill wells,” he said. “This is strictly used to process the gas.”

Jackson Township officials will vote on the application at their regular board meeting at 7 p.m.  Thursday.