MIDDLESEX TWP — Rex Energy announced that horizontal drilling rigs will soon be delivered to the Geyer well pad, and work will begin to drill two of the six wells permitted for the Denny Road site.

---- Pat Creighton, Rex spokesman, said on Friday that workers in December completed the vertical drilling on the two wells, and that horizontal drilling will now begin.

---- The Geyer wells, which are .6 miles from the Mars School District property, have been protested by a group of concerned parents in the district as well as some residents of nearby Weatherburn Heights.

---- Work stopped at the Geyer site for several months during a series of hearings before the township zoning hearing board. The hearings became necessary after five residents and two environmental groups filed an objection to an amendment to the township zoning code that determined where unconventional gas drilling operations could take place.

---- Work resumed after a county court judge ruled in favor of the amendment.

---- Creighton said Rex Energy has exceeded requirements in order to accommodate the school district, such as reducing truck traffic on Route 228 during peak school bus hours, enhancing sound abatement walls at the Geyer well pad to reduce noise, and allowing only right turns from Route 228 into and out of the driveway to the well pad.

---- “Rex has received all necessary regulatory approvals to develop this location and has met or exceeded all regulatory requirements in the construction of the well pad and related infrastructure,” Creighton said.

---- The horizontal drilling rigs will likely remain at the Geyer well pad for three weeks, Creighton said. He said seven or eight days are needed to drill each well, plus time for setup and tear-down of the rigs.