While a group of Mars School District parents try to convince municipal officials to enact a two-mile overlay around the five schools near Route 228 and Three Degree Road to prevent Marcellus Shale gas drilling, other residents do not see a problem with the gas wells.

Six Rex Energy gas wells are planned for the Bob and Kim Geyer farm on Denny Road. They will be drilled once the state Department of Environmental Protection issues the required permit.

The Geyer farm is within one mile of the schools.

The parent group is concerned about fumes from the well activity affecting the students' health, and they also fear the district could not effectively evacuate 3,200 students should an explosion occur at the well pad.

But Dennis McCandless, an Adams Township resident and a civil engineer, said, “I think they're blowing the risks way out of proportion.”

He called the parent group “misguided,” and said state regulations will protect the schools and homes around the wells.

“The offsets (the DEP) mandated from wetlands, occupied and unoccupied buildings, and water wells are more than adequate to protect anybody,” McCandless said.

The knowledge level of DEP inspectors and those working at well sites has improved since unconventional gas drilling began in Pennsylvania about five years ago, McCandless said.

“Accidents are going to happen once in a long while, but most (issues) should be taken care of by inspections and the permitting process,” he said. “When you look at the percentage of wells that have had trouble, it's very small.”

McCandless pointed out a high-pressure natural gas main was installed through the Treesdale farms in the 1950s, and was replaced about 20 years ago by two, 35-inch main lines. He said there are houses within 100 feet of the line, and no one has protested.

The parent group's contention that the Geyer well should be prohibited by Middlesex Township because it is not in an industrial zone is also inaccurate, McCandless said. He said the temporary noise, dust, traffic and lighting from building the well pad are nothing new in the growing southwestern part of the county.

“It will be similar to building a new school or new bridge on Route 228,” McCandless said. “It's that level of construction.”

McCandless did say that because the portion of Act 13, the state's gas act, that eliminated local zoning was removed from the act, the township supervisors could attempt to deny the well if they so choose.

He also said the DEP is understaffed for the level of drilling activity going on in Western Pennsylvania.

“The DEP needs more budget to make inspections and operation control even tougher,” McCandless said.

But he added that in the current drilling boom, local code enforcement officials, supervisors, transportation professionals and even residents are keeping a keen eye on drilling and fracking activities.

“They could make a call and get the DEP out there in a day,” McCandless said.

Jerry Klein, who has owned his property in Adams Township for more than 25 years, said the DEP regulations were put into place by professionals charged with keeping citizens safe, and that is enough for him.

“I don't think the DEP is going to let us do anything unsafe,” said Klein, whose property is less than a mile from the Geyer farm.

Regarding local regulation of property rights, Klein said the supervisors should not allow the claims of a group whose members are mostly new to the area prevent other residents from earning money on their properties.

“It's the same as telling farmers 'you can't raise those dairy cows because they stink,'” Klein said.

Regarding the Mars schools, Klein said the students will not suffer any health effects, nor would evacuation be impossible in the event of an emergency at the wells.

“How many hazardous material trucks pass by those schools every day?” Klein said. “They could have a tanker of hazardous material tip over in the parking lot.”

He said Adams Township Planning Commission members said at their last meeting that part of their job is to maintain the rural character of the township.

He said property owners who sign surface leases will have construction activity for a short time, and then have a small, permanent structure not unlike a switching station. Those landowners, Klein said, will earn enough money from drillers to keep their land instead of selling it to a residential developer.

Janice Kennedy, whose farm is close to the Geyer well site, said she studied unconventional gas drilling for one year before signing a lease with Rex Energy a few years ago because she had heard of drilling-related water well issues in Connoquenessing.

“I did my research, and Marcellus Shale really does not affect the aquifers,” she said.

Kennedy is frustrated with the group of residents from Weatherburn Heights, to the east of the Geyer farm. She said the Geyer wells were in the planning stages long before neighboring Weatherburn Heights began construction.

“These people should have done a little research before they bought their houses there,” Kennedy said.

She said the second half of Weatherburn Heights' first phase is under construction, and large trucks travel past houses every day. The development includes four phases.

“They are not worried about (exhaust from) those trucks,” Kennedy said.

Regarding the studies cited by the parents group, Kennedy said they cannot compare to the years of research the DEP did before creating regulations for unconventional drilling.

Kennedy added that gas drillers benefit communities. She said drillers have run water lines to their well sites, which allows residents along those lines the rare opportunity to tap into those lines and receive public water.

She said Rex Energy plans to run a water line to the Geyer wells, which will reduce the amount of truck traffic at the site.

Kennedy said once the drilling and fracking on the property is complete, Weatherburn Heights residents will not be able to see the permanent structure on the farm.

Kim Geyer, who is the former Mars School Board president and current assistant to county Commissioner Bill McCarrier, said in an interview last month that had Rex Energy officials not talked with the Mars School Board in March about an offer of $1 million to drill under district property, which the district rejected, no one would have noticed her well.

“We would have just been another farm with a well pad,” Geyer said.

Geyer said she is familiar with the Marcellus Shale gas industry because she is assistant to McCarrier, and the gas industry has proliferated in the county.

Geyer also is a member of XTO Energy's community advisory panel, which she said has allowed her to learn about the industry. She said she meets regularly with Marcellus Shale scientists, engineers, technologists and drillers.

She said the life span of the average Marcellus Shale gas well is 50 years.

“This industry is here,” Geyer said. “They're invested long-term in Pennsylvania.”

She also said she trusts Rex Energy and the DEP will ensure the well activity will be safe.

“I'm sure the schools will continue to be safe,” Geyer said.

Gary Clark, spokesman for the DEP's Northwest Region, said the permit submitted by Rex Energy for the Geyer property is in the review process.

He said he did not know when the agency would decide on the Geyer well permit.

Clark said he has been impressed with the professional and courteous attitude maintained both by proponents and opponents of the project.

“Everyone has been very good to us on both sides,” he said.