As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
CORPORATION
Includes any corporation, limited partnership, limited liability
partnership, business trust, or limited liability company organized
under the laws of any state of the United States or under the laws
of any country, and any other business entity that possesses state-conferred
limited liability attributes for its owners, directors, officers and/or
managers.
DISPOSAL
Includes but shall not be limited to the depositing, storage,
treatment, recycling, injection, or by any other means the distribution
or depositing of brine, "produced water," "frack water," tailings
or any other waste or by-product of shale gas extraction upon, into
or over the land, waterways, air or any area within the jurisdiction
of the City of DuBois.
EXTRACTION
The digging or drilling of a well for the purposes of exploring
for, developing or producing natural gas or other hydrocarbons.
NATURAL GAS
Any gaseous substance, either combustible or noncombustible,
which is produced in a natural state from the earth and which maintains
a gaseous or rarefied state at standard temperature or pressure conditions,
and/or gaseous components or vapors occurring in or derived from petroleum
or natural gas.
SEISMOGRAPHIC SURVEYING or SEISMIC TESTING
The process by which geophones and drill/charge holes are
pressed into the earth and into which dynamite is ignited to cause
a vibration of the earth to determine the location of deposits of
shale formations.
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
Energy that is produced without violating the rights of the
human and natural community and which is specifically not derived
from fossil fuels or nuclear fission. Energy derived from existing
flows of energy generated by ongoing natural processes, including,
but not limited to, energy generated from the sun, flowing water,
wind flows and geothermal heat flows. The term shall not include any
source of energy generated from an increase in the use of fossil fuels,
nuclear fission, or any derivative of those energy sources.
This article shall be effective five days after the date of
its enactment, at which point the article shall apply to any and all
extractions of natural gas by means of horizontal drilling and all
depositing of waste from shale gas extraction in any residential or
office zoning district in the City of DuBois, whether originating
in the City of DuBois or elsewhere, regardless of the date of any
applicable DEP or other permit.
The foundation for the making and adoption of this law is the
people's fundamental and inalienable right to govern themselves and
thereby secure their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
as well as the City's rights to enact zoning ordinances under the
provisions of the Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code. Any attempts
to use other units and levels of government to preempt, amend, alter
or overturn this article, or parts of this article, shall require
the City of DuBois to hold public meetings that explore the adoption
of other measures that expand local control and the ability of residents
to protect their fundamental and inalienable right to self-government
and the City's right to enact zoning ordinances to promote the public
health, safety and general welfare.
The provisions of this article are severable. If any court of
competent jurisdiction decides that any section, clause, sentence,
part or provision of this article is illegal, invalid or unconstitutional,
such decision shall not affect, impair or invalidate any of the remaining
sections, clauses, sentences, parts or provisions of the article.
The City Council of the City of DuBois hereby declares that, in the
event of such a decision and the determination that the court's ruling
is legitimate, it would have enacted this article even without the
section, clause, sentence, part or provision that the court decides
is illegal or unconstitutional.