MIDDLESEX TWP — While an injunction has been filed by the Clean Air Council, work is continuing at the Geyer gas well pad on Denny Road.

The parties involved in the appeal to the township zoning board’s decision to uphold a zoning amendment regarding gas drilling appeared at a motion hearing this past week before Butler County Court Judge Michael Yeager.

The Clean Air Council, the Delaware Riverkeeper, and two township residents are appealing the zoning hearing board’s May decision to side with Rex Energy, Mark West Partners and the township and uphold the ordinance, which they say allows shale gas drilling in most of the township.

The environmental groups and four residents challenged the ordinance because they say the five Rex Energy wells planned for the Bob and Kim Geyer farm are dangerously close to Mars School District buildings.

Alex Bomstein, an attorney for the Clean Air Council, said Friday that he filed an injunction before Yeager that, if approved, would stop all work at the Geyer well site until a decision is made on the appeal.

Bomstein said they also requested a stay to stop the zoning ordinance amendment from being in effect.

He said as of Friday afternoon, Yeager had not yet ruled on the motions.

Bomstein said while the Clean Air Council appreciates the time the zoning board spent at the hours-long hearings between November and May, it disagrees with the methods the board used to come to its decision.

He said the board members excluded much of the expert testimony on both sides, including Rex Energy’s expert testimony on the science of the risk analysis regarding pollution from fracking.

“So the zoning hearing board really said, ‘A pox on both your houses, we’re not going to take any of this scientific evidence into consideration,’” Bomstein said.

He said the board members decided that because they don’t know enough about the dangers of shale gas drilling operations, they will let it go on. The appealing parties, Bomstein said, do not agree that those risks should be foisted upon “innocent residents of the township” as a result of the board’s decision.

He also said a conflict of interest existed during the zoning hearing board proceedings because all three board members have shale gas leases.

Bomstein said while the Clean Air Council has participated in myriad environmental lawsuits, this is the first case ever argued before a zoning hearing board.

He said when the section of Act 13, the state’s gas drilling law, regarding the state’s ability to apply its own zoning to every acre of land in the state was overturned, the door was opened to arguing before local boards.

“So the Supreme Court showed us (in invalidating that part of Act 13) that zoning has a vital role in protecting the residents of the state, and that townships and other municipalities have a vital place in protecting the citizenry and making important environmental decisions,” Bomstein said.

He said the main benefit of arguing before Yeager in the appeal, as opposed to the zoning hearing board for the challenge, is that Yeager is not an official in Middlesex Township. It also is good to have Yeager’s legal opinions and his outside perspective as well, Bomstein said.

“I think it’s good to have Judge Yeager’s fresh eyes and fresh take on this,” he said.

“We are looking forward to putting all our efforts into trying as best we can to protect the residents of Middlesex and to ensure the voices of the citizenry are heard just as loudly as the voices of the energy companies,” he said.

Rex Energy spokesman Pat Creighton confirmed that work is going on at the Geyer well.

While that work stopped during the zoning hearing board appeal, Creighton said it started up again once the board voted to uphold the zoning amendment.

Additional site work, sound barrier walls, and the setting of well casings were tasks that Rex workers focused on after the zoning board’s decision.

“Those activities moved forward and were completed,” Creighton said.

While Creighton said Rex Energy would not comment on the appeal before Yeager, Rex is committed to developing the site.

“That acreage has been leased, and we have every intention of developing that well pad,” Creighton said. “We’re staying the course.”