The purpose of this chapter is to provide adequate protections
for the health, safety and general welfare of the residents of Raccoon
Township while allowing for the reasonable development of land for
oil and gas exploration and operations. Oil and gas exploration, drilling
and extraction operations involve activities that are economically
important, but which will also have a significant impact upon the
lands and the residents of Raccoon Township. Accordingly, it is necessary
and appropriate to adopt reasonable measures for oil and gas resource
development so that these resources can be utilized in a manner that
is economically remunerative, preserves the character of all zoning
districts, encourages beneficial and compatible land uses and that
minimizes the potential impact of this land use on the residents of
Raccoon Township. In adopting this chapter, it is recognized that
the newly enacted Pennsylvania Act 13 preempts and supersedes virtually
all of the Township's traditionally sovereign power to properly
monitor land uses through zoning regulations. The effect of Act 13
was a preemption of Ordinance 3-2011. Consequently, it is intended
that this chapter be interpreted to conform to and in no way conflict
with the requirements of Act 13.
Those definitions that are set forth in Act 13 are incorporated
herein by reference with the same force and affect as though fully
set forth at length herein. To the extent that any of these definitions
conflict with those set forth in Act 13, the Act 13 definition shall
control. Accordingly, the foregoing definitions shall apply to this
chapter only:
APPLICANT
Any person, owner, operator, partnership, company, corporation
and/or its subcontractors and agents who has an interest in real estate
for the purpose of exploring, drilling for, producing, or transporting
oil or gas.
BUILDING
An occupied structure with walls and roof within which persons
live or customarily work. The term shall not include a barn, shed
or other storage building.
COLLECTOR STREET
A public street or road which, in addition to providing access
to abutting lots, intercepts other collector streets or state roads
and provides a route for carrying volumes of local traffic to community
facilities and arterial streets.
COMPRESSOR
A device used alone or in series to raise the pressure of
natural gas and/or by-products to create a pressure differential to
move or compress a liquid, vapor or gas.
COMPRESSOR STATION
A facility designed and constructed to compress natural gas
and/or oil that originates from a single well site or a collection
of such well sites, operating as a midstream facility for delivery
of gas and/or oil to a transmission pipeline, distribution pipeline,
processing plant or underground storage field, including one or more
natural gas and/or oil compressors, associated buildings, pipes, valves,
tanks and other equipment.
DEPARTMENT
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
DERRICK
Any portable framework, tower mast and/or structure which
is required or used in connection with drilling or reworking a well
for the production of oil or gas.
DRILLING
Any digging or boring of a new well or reworking of an existing
well to explore, develop or produce oil, gas or other hydrocarbons
or to inject gas, water or any other fluids or substances into the
earth in accordance with a valid permit issued by the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) under the provisions
of Act 13 as now or hereafter amended.
DRILLING EQUIPMENT
The derrick, all parts and appurtenances to such structure
and every piece of apparatus, machinery or equipment used, erected
or maintained in connection with oil and gas drilling, as defined
herein.
DRILLING PAD
The area of surface operations surrounding the surface location
of a wellhead or wellheads extending only to the heel of the pad.
Such area shall not include an access road to the drilling pad.
EFFECTIVE DATE
The date upon which this chapter is approved by the Board
of Supervisors of Raccoon Township.
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING (FRACKING)
The process of injecting water, customized fracking fluid,
steam, or gas into an oil or gas well under pressure to break apart
rock layers in order to release gas and improve recovery of gas in
accordance with a valid permit issued by the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection (PADEP) under the provisions of Act 13
as now or hereafter amended.
LOCAL STREET
A public street or road designed to provide access to abutting
lots and to discourage through traffic.
NATURAL GAS PROCESSING PLANT
A facility that is not a compressor station that receives
natural gas and associated hydrocarbons from a gathering line system
serving one or more well sites that compresses, condenses, pressurizes
or otherwise treats natural gas and which removes water and water
vapor and/or separates materials such as ethane, propane, butane and
other constituents or similar naturally occurring substances from
natural gas to allow such natural gas to be of such quality as is
required or appropriate for transmission or distribution to commercial
markets, including, but not limited to: cooling facilities, storage
tanks and related equipment and facilities.
OIL AND GAS
Crude oil, natural gas, methane gas, coal bed methane gas,
propane, ethane, butane, pentane, hexane, nitrogen and/or any other
constituents or similar substances that are produced by drilling an
oil or gas well of any depth into, through and below the surface of
the earth.
OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT or DEVELOPMENT
The well site preparation, construction, drilling, redrilling,
hydraulic fracturing, and/or site restoration associated with an oil
or gas well of any depth or drilling pad; water and other fluid storage,
impoundment and transportation used for such activities; the installation
and use of all associated equipment, derricks, including tanks, meters,
and other equipment and structures whether permanent or temporary;
and the site preparation, construction, installation, maintenance
and repair of oil and gas pipelines and associated equipment and other
equipment and activities associated with the exploration for, production
and transportation of oil and gas - all in accordance with a valid
permit issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
(PADEP) under the provisions of Act 13 as now or hereafter amended.
This definition does not include gathering, transmission and distribution
pipelines or compressor stations or natural gas processing plants
or facilities performing the equivalent functions.
OIL AND GAS DRILLING
The removal of oil and gas resources from the ground by means
of drilling, as defined herein, in accordance with a valid permit
issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
(PADEP) under the provisions of Act 13 as now or hereafter amended.
OIL AND GAS DRILLING DEEP WELL
Oil and gas drilling, as defined herein, drilled to depths
deeper than the base of the Elk Sandstone or its stratigraphic equivalent
for the sole purpose of exploring the Marcellus Shale.
OIL AND GAS DRILLING SHALLOW WELL
Oil and gas drilling, as defined herein, drilled to depths
shallower than the base of the Elk Sandstone or its stratigraphic
equivalent and any well site that proposes drilling of a single well
for no more than seven consecutive days total in any calendar year.
OIL AND GAS DRILLING SUBSURFACE FACILITIES
Activities performed under the surface of the ground that
are part of the operation of oil and gas drilling, as defined herein,
located on properties within the unit for a particular well site,
but that are not included in the actual well site, including, but
not limited to: horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing zones,
underground gathering and transmission pipelines established in accordance
with Public Utility Commission (PUC) guidelines, water distribution
lines and similar underground facilities incidental to oil and gas
development.
OIL OR GAS WELL OR WELLHEAD
A pierced or bored hole drilled or being drilled in the ground
for the purpose of, or to be used for, producing, extracting or injecting
gas, oil, petroleum or another liquid related to oil or gas production
or storage including the structure that is placed over the opening
upon completion of drilling and that is maintained during production
in accordance with a valid permit issued by the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection (PADEP) under the provisions of Act 13
as now or hereafter amended.
OPERATOR
Any person, partnership, company or corporation and/or its
subcontractors and agents who have an interest in real estate for
the purpose of exploring, drilling for, producing or transporting
oil or gas.
OWNER
A person who owns, manages, leases, controls or otherwise
holds an interest in or possesses an oil or gas well site.
PROTECTED STRUCTURE
Any occupied residence, business, school, church or public
building located within 1,000 feet of an oil or gas well, as defined
herein, that may be adversely affected by noise generated from the
drilling or hydraulic fracturing at the well site, as defined herein,
excluding any structure owned by an oil or gas lessor who has signed
a lease with the operator granting surface rights to drill the subject
well or whose owner or occupants have signed a waiver relieving the
operator from complying with the noise abatement provisions of this
chapter.
STORAGE WELL
A well used for and in connection with the underground storage
of natural gas, including injection into or withdrawal from an underground
storage reservoir for monitoring or observation of reservoir pressure.
TOWNSHIP STAFF
Township of Raccoon Board of Supervisors, or other designated
agent of the Township.
WATER IMPOUNDMENT
An open, earthen receptacle in the ground intended to store
fresh water or wastewater to supply one or more oil and gas drilling
well sites.
WELL SITE
All of the area occupied by the drilling equipment, as defined
herein, and all surface facilities, structures, water and other fluid
storage impoundments and storage tanks and associated equipment including
tanks, meters and other permanent or temporary structures and equipment
incidental to oil and gas drilling, as defined herein, including facilities
and equipment necessary for site exploration, preparation, site construction,
drilling, hydraulic fracturing, site restoration, production and operation
of the well upon completion of drilling.
WORKOVER OPERATIONS
The work performed in a well after its completion in an effort
to secure production where there has been none, restore production
that has ceased, or increase production.
Any owner, operator, or other person who violates or permits
a violation of this chapter upon being found liable therefor in a
civil enforcement proceeding before a Magisterial District Judge shall
pay to the Township a fine of not more than $500, plus all court costs,
including, but not limited to, reasonable attorney's fees incurred
by the Township on account of such violation. No penalty or cost shall
be imposed until the date the determination of the violation by the
Magisterial District Judge becomes final. If the defendant neither
pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Township may enforce the
judgment as provided by law. Each day a violation exists after final
judgment shall constitute a separate offense. The amount of the fine
imposed shall be multiplied by the number of such days and may be
charged and collected as a judgment by the Township without further
judicial proceedings. Further, the appropriate officers or agents
of the Township are hereby authorized to issue a cease and desist
notice and/or to seek equitable relief, including injunction, to enforce
compliance herewith. No bond shall be required of the Township if
the Township seeks injunctive relief.
If any chapter, section, subsection, paragraph, sentence or
phrase of this chapter is for any reason declared invalid by a court
of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not effect the validity
of the chapter as a whole or any section or part thereof other than
the section or part thereof so declared to be invalid.
Any ordinance, chapter, section, subsection, paragraph, sentence
or phrase of any ordinance conflicting with the provisions of this
chapter shall and the same is hereby repealed to the extent of such
conflict.