Sandra Hearn spent 37 years of her teaching career taking advantage of Elizabeth Forward High School’s rural campus. She held health and physical education classes outside whenever possible and opened the windows on hot spring and fall days.
While Ms. Hearn retired in 2005, the Elizabeth Township resident is now part of a community group fighting a natural gas well pad that is under construction on a property adjacent to the high school.
“You’re already competing with so much going on in the classroom let alone something like this,” Ms. Hearn said. “You look out the window and there they are with all this stuff right outside this school building. So [I’m] worried about the noise and what’s in the air from all the dirt and the dust.”
Despite concerns expressed by residents and parents during six public hearings that each lasted several hours last year, township commissioners in January approved the Heracles well pad, pipeline and interconnection. The project, proposed by Cannonsburg-based Olympus Energy, is located on a 24-acre property off Route 51. The well pad will sit roughly 1,500 feet from the high school property line and is near Round Hill Park.
The community has continued to push back against the project over the past several months.
Protect Elizabeth Township, a grassroots community organization that advocates for the protection of residents’ rights, in February filed an appeal in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas against the township and the commissioners. The appeal was also filed on behalf of several township residents including Ms. Hearn.
The appeal alleges that the township made a mistake in approving the well pad because Olympus did not satisfy all requirements laid out in township ordinances; health, safety and general welfare requirements presented by objectors were not satisfied; and the “board committed capricious disregard” by not considering all evidence introduced by objectors.
Olympus in March issued a notice of intervention in response. The appeal is working through the court system.
Olympus officials and the township solicitor did not respond to a request for comment.
Scott Taylor, of Protect Elizabeth Township, said he will continue to appeal the project if necessary.
Mr. Taylor said Protect Elizabeth Township chose to fight the location of the well pad because of its proximity to the high school, “which we knew was wrong of them to begin with.”
Last year, school Director Scott Henry sent a letter to township commissioners urging them to reconsider granting permission for the well pad so close to the high school. “In this letter, I am just one citizen and one school board member, but I do ask for your serious reflection on this vote and ask for you to vote against its construction on the neighboring property to our high school,” he wrote.
This is not the first time Olympus has faced opposition.
The company, which grew out of the old Huntley & Huntley firm, operates wells in denser, more urban areas than most other natural gas drillers. It currently has well pads in eastern Allegheny and western Westmoreland County, according to records from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
The company has been engaged in a years-long legal battle in West Deer Township where, drawing partly on the experience of Elizabeth Township residents with other Olympus well pads, West Deer supervisors denied the company’s request for a conditional use permit.
Olympus appealed the decision claiming, in part, that the township’s reliance on environmental violations to inform zoning decisions should be disallowed.
Earlier this month, the case was argued in Commonwealth Court with an attorney for Olympus warning the court’s decision will have far reaching implications for natural gas drillers across the state. It is certainly being watched by Olympus opponents in Elizabeth Township.
The court has not yet ruled on the matter.
In Elizabeth, the distance of the Heracles well pad “far exceeds what’s required by the township,” township manager Greg Butler said. According to township code, oil and gas well sites can be a conditional use in all zoning districts as long as the wellhead is 750 feet from any existing building and 1,500 feet from any property line on which a school building is located.
But Mr. Taylor, whose daughter graduated from Elizabeth Forward last year, said the school, built in the 1950s, does not have air conditioning, so windows are often open in the fall and spring months. He’s concerned over possible emissions from the site.
According to a 2021 study from Stanford University, which looked at a 14-year analysis of air quality across California, higher levels of air pollutants such as toxic particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide and ozone were recorded within 2.5 miles of oil and gas wells. Those pollutants likely worsened negative health outcomes for nearby residents.
He is also concerned about possible noise pollution around the school from the well pad.
Kellianne Frketic, whose son will be a freshman next year, said she recently moved back into the community after living in McKeesport.
“My family has lived in Elizabeth Township for over 80 years,” Ms. Frketic said. “I chose to move back and … it seems like since I moved back now everything is just tumbling. I didn’t know about this well pad going in next to the high school.”
Now, Ms. Frketic is worried about health impacts on her son, who will also spend time at the school for football practice and games. She is also concerned about the aftermath from a fire that broke out in the school’s auditorium in February, forcing students to online learning before they were able to return prior to the end of the school year.
“How is this building our community?” she said. “This is hindering our ability to grow and thrive. Who wants to move into a school district that’s building a well pad next to their school? This is keeping people away.”
Elizabeth Floyd, who has a 7- and 9-year-old in the district, has concerns over the health and safety of students and staff at the high school. She cited a study from the Yale School of Public Health that found children living near unconventional oil and gas developments at birth were two the three times more likely to be diagnosed with leukemia between the ages of 2 and 7 than those who did not live near wells.
She noted that despite the appeal, construction on a road that will lead to the pad is moving “full steam ahead.”
Ms. Hearn, who worries about dirt, dust and noise during construction, also wants to ensure safety plans are in place in case of an emergency at the well pad. She hopes the plans would lay out how the school would be notified of an emergency and who decides whether the school needs to evacuate or shelter in place.
“They’re still trying to get over the fire that was at the high school,” Ms. Hearn said of a February fire in the auditorium, “and the chemicals and the smells. Hopefully that is something that will go away but this well pad and interconnect, it could go for another 30 or 40 years.”
Superintendent Keith Konyk said the district is not able to give input on where well pads are located.
With construction underway on the Heracles pad, Mr. Konyk said district officials are “just going to look for any kind of safety steps we can take to make sure our kids are safe.”
Post-Gazette reporter Anya Litvak contributed to this story.
First Published: May 29, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: May 30, 2023, 9:54 a.m.