JACKSON TWP — A standing room-only crowd filled the township municipal building Monday night to oppose a proposed natural gas processing plant on Hartmann Road, which is a mile from the Seneca Valley School District’s main campus.

The public hearing was held on a conditional use application filed by Keystone Midstream Services, a partner company of Stonehenge Energy Resources of Westminster, Colo., and Rex Energy of State College, to build a second cryogenic natural gas processing plant in southern Butler County.

Rex Energy is drilling Marcellus shale natural gas wells in the county, including four wells in Jackson Township.

Keystone Midstream’s first plant, the Sarsen Plant, in which the company invested more than $25 million, was completed last year in Forward Township. The company is expected to invest $25 million at the Jackson site.

Michael Brinkmeyer, director of new ventures for Stonehenge Energy Resources, said Monday night that the proposed Jackson Bluestone Plant would enable the processing of 50 million cubic feet of gas compared to 40 million cubic feet at the Forward facility.

The facility would employ about eight full time workers and would be staffed 24-hours-a-day, seven days per week.

The new plant would be on 31.6 acres of the 71-acre site off Hartmann Road across from the Seneca Landfill and bordered by a dairy farm and by Advanced Polymer Technologies. The company is leasing the property.

Those in attendance oppose the location of the plant, which they say is too close to more than 4,000 students at the campus for the high school, intermediate school and middle school.

Others questioned the rush for approval, saying the natural gas industry has yet to prove it can be handled safely.

Still others claimed that building the processing plant will only speed up Marcellus shale gas drilling in the county.

Supervisors are expected to vote on the conditional use application on Thursday.

If approved, the company must still submit land development plans to the township for approval before any construction could begin.

Keystone Midstream already has submitted land development plans to the township that will be reviewed this month by the planning commission.

The company hopes to get the Bluestone Plant running in the first quarter of 2012.

Diane Sipe of Evans City said the gas processing plant will expedite drilling in the area, which she opposes.

Sipe said there is an economic benefit from the growing natural gas industry, however, only one in six residents directly benefit while the rest become “collateral damage.”

Shelly Behr, who lives near where the plant would be built, said she fears for children’s health and safety.

She also said she fears that the processing plant in her backyard would make it hard to sell her home later.

“It’s irresponsible to put something like this here. It’s too fast,” she said.

Another neighbor of the proposed plant, Taylor Jennings, said he’s concerned about the increased traffic on Hartmann and Seneca School Road, especially with trucks from the plant.

Dave Fast of Evans City was concerned about the processing plant’s negative effects on air and water quality, property values and increased traffic.

He said the federal Environmental Protection Agency is doing a study that will be completed in a year that outlines the effects of the industry.

“I urge the township to put the brakes on the industry until the EPA study is released,” Fast said.

Mirka Fatschel of Seven Fields told the supervisors she has three children attending Seneca Valley, and she is concerned the processing plant will harm the air quality at the school.

Jerry Oliver of Center Township, who said he also owns property in Jackson Township, was the lone person who pointed out the benefits derived from drilling and hoped one day it would help the nation take a step toward energy independence.

Stan DeBoer of Cranberry Township said there has to be a better place to build the gas processing plant than one mile from a school. Having formerly worked in the petrochemical industry, he said these types of plants are usually built in sparsely populated areas.

“Put it somewhere else,” he said.

“I’m questioning whether local leadership in all of Butler County communities is ready for this (Marcellus natural gas industry),” said Diane Arnold of Middlesex Township.