"Nockamixon officials deserve credit"

Letter to the Editor of the Intelligencer, November 28, 2010:

On Nov. 11, the Intelligencer published an ill-informed letter from Tom Linzey, the executive director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. The letter baselessly attacks Nockamixon Township officials and the Delaware Riverkeeper, who achieved a significant victory over Arbor Resources, which was seeking to develop gas drilling in the Township.


First, Linzey wrongly claims that township officials took "no action to protect their residents." In fact, Nockamixon Township supervisors passed a groundbreaking ordinance that protects residents by establishing zoning regulations that limit the dangers associated with gas drilling.

The supervisors authorized the filing of a friend of the court brief in the state supreme court when drilling companies challenged the ability of municipalities to pass zoning regulations governing gas drilling. The supervisors stood up to Arbor Resources, which sought to circumvent the township's ordinances and which sought to avoid full regulatory oversight.

When Arbor sued the township, the supervisors succeeded in convincing the court to throw out the challenge. The township also won a precedent-setting appeal that helps protect municipalities statewide.

With assistance from the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, the township appealed Arbor's permit renewal to the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board and the township obtained a historic hearing before the Delaware River Basin Commission. These actions ultimately led to Arbor's abandonment of the project.

Linzey also incorrectly states the status of the law, wrongly asserting that state laws prohibit the township from adopting any local laws interfering with gas company operations. In fact, as Nockamixon's supervisors helped establish, municipalities can regulate gas drilling through the exercise of their zoning authority.

Linzey mistakenly asserts that the drilling company "could return tomorrow." Without a DEP permit, without approval from the Delaware River Basin Commission, and with its proposed drilling site outside of the zoning districts where drilling is permitted, the drilling company cannot return tomorrow or any time soon.

It is true that gas drilling companies have enormous power and that municipalities are limited in their ability to effectively protect their residents. Nockamixon's supervisors, however, have shown that municipalities are not completely powerless.

Nockamixon's officials are to be praised and emulated, rather than being subjected to criticism.

Jordan Yeager
Solicitor, Nockamixon Twp.