MIDDLESEX TWP — Rex Energy has ceased operations on the Denny Road farm of Bob and Kim Geyer.

Mary Ann Fox, Rex land vice president, sent a letter to the Geyer family saying the work stoppage is the result of a challenge to the township zoning ordinance approved in August by the township supervisors that determines where shale gas operations can be located in the township.

The challenge to the ordinance is from the Clean Air Council and the Delaware Riverkeeper, both of the Philadelphia area, as well as four Middlesex Township residents.

A hearing before the zoning hearing board regarding the ordinance will be at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Middlesex Township fire hall.

The proposed Geyer wells have been a source of controversy since a group of Mars School District parents formed to try to prevent the wells from being placed within a mile of all five district school buildings. All attempts by the group to prevent the wells have so far failed.

The letter to the Geyer family from Rex Energy said further development of the wells, plus two wells on property belonging to Ron Molinaro — less than a mile south of the Geyer land — will be suspended until the challenge is resolved.

If the ordinance is upheld by the zoning hearing board, Rex could resume development of the Geyer and Molinaro wells pending any subsequent court challenges.

Zoning hearing board solicitor Mike Gallagher said last month that if the ordinance is upheld, the challengers can appeal the decision to county court.

Kim Geyer said the Clean Air Council and Delaware Riverkeeper are attempting to drag out the appeals process for months or years so that Rex Energy will become tired of the legal fighting and tired of waiting to drill its wells and pull out of the Geyer and Molinaro sites.

“These people are not coming here because they care about Middlesex Township,” Kim Geyer said. “They want to justify their existence and make a name for themselves by setting a statewide precedent.

“As a community, we shouldn’t be used.”

The Rex Energy letter said if the ordinance is found to be invalid by the zoning hearing board, then continued development of the well pads will be postponed indefinitely until any appeal is exhausted.

The letter said the same objectors filed an appeal with the state Environmental Hearing Board challenging the state Department of Environmental Protection’s issuance of the Geyer well permits. There has been no date set for that hearing.

“These actions have caused Rex to cease operations on the well pads,” Fox said in the letter. “At this time, the duration of the delay in operations is not known.”

Kim Geyer said after stabilizing the completed well pads, Rex workers left her farm on Thursday. She said the access road to the well site off Route 228 is done.

She said facing costly legal challenges to their operations, the shale gas industry could relocate from the Adams and Middlesex areas. She said that would mean no payment for residents who have leases with drillers.

“Taxpayers need to be aware that energy companies stay away from contentious areas in the county and go elsewhere so they don’t have to spend millions to defend themselves,” she said.

Kim Geyer said Rex officials are working with the township to defend the ordinance.

Matt Walker, community outreach director with the Clean Air Council, said Rex officials knew that the ordinance would be challenged, which would mean an automatic stay on the well site’s development, but they began working on the Geyer site anyway.

He said Rex lobbied the township to get special permission to proceed with the well pad because not doing so would put residents in peril. He said the township had a third-party engineer look at the site, and the engineer determined that Rex could finish the well pad if no drilling or fracking were started.

But township solicitor Mike Hnath said Walker’s account is not quite accurate.

Hnath said when the ordinance was appealed, Rex workers were building the road and moving dirt to complete the DEP’s erosion, sedimentation and stormwater control requirements.

He said Rex officials asked the township whether it would be safer for workers to leave the huge piles of dirt as they were or finish the DEP-required controls. Hnath said he advised the township to send an engineer in to determine the best course of action, and that engineer said the work should be completed.

“Rex Energy didn’t ask for permission to drill, they wanted to know if they should stop or complete the well pad,” Hnath said.

Walker said the actions of the Clean Air Council have one goal.

“The goal (of the Clean Air Council) is to prevent drilling near the school,” Walker said. “Anything that furthers that goal is definitely helping our work, but our end goal is to prevent these wells from being drilled.”

Rex officials say they are far from giving up on the Geyer pad.

“Rex Energy is committed to safely and responsibly developing our leasehold in and around Butler County,” said Rex spokesman Katherine Gresh.

“While this is a temporary setback for this well pad, Rex Energy remains steadfast in our commitment to the region, our landowner partners and the communities where we operate.”