Murrysville Watch Committee is challenging the Murrysville Oil and Gas Ordinance which permits fracking in the Rural-Residential zone and community parks. We need the support of the community to continue our fight.

More Details: Murrysville Watch Committee members have advocated for 10 years before Murrysville Council to enact setbacks of at least 2000 ft and prohibit fracking in residential zones and parks, but in 2017, Council updated the Oil and Gas ordinance to permit fracking as close as 750 ft from homes in the "Oil and Gas Recovery District" overlay, which covers much of the Rural-Residential zone, and with no additional protections for parks in the overlay. MWC's only remaining option to keep fracking from occurring in zones where families live and play in Murrysville was and is to legally challenge the oil and gas ordinance. We need Murrysville residents to help financially support our efforts to fight fracking in Murrysville residential zones. 

In September 2018, Murrysville Watch Committee, Inc. (MWC), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and several individual Murrysville residents, filed a Substantive Validity Challenge of the Murrysville ordinance for unconventional gas development. Since 2010, members of MWC have advocated for a municipal ordinance that would protect the health, safety and welfare of all residents by limiting the heavy industrial process of oil and gas development, often called "fracking,” to industrial zones. The Murrysville ordinance, and its use of a zoning overlay map, allows industrial operations to occur in the rural-residential and public land (park) zones. The basis for the MWC challenge is that the ordinance violates Pennsylvania law and provisions of the Pennsylvania and U.S. Constitutions, by, among other things, allowing an incompatible, industrial use in the rural-residential zone. In 2019, the Murrysville zoning hearing board rejected MWC's challenge. The next step is to take MWC's challenge to the Westmoreland Court of Common Pleas, which will occur on February 24, 2020.

The mission of Murrysville Watch Committee, Inc. is to help citizens of Murrysville, Pennsylvania to pursue the public good of a safe, healthy, and attractive place for living, working, and recreation and to maintain the integrity of Murrysville’s landscape now and for generations to come. Questions may be directed to Murrysville Watch Committee Inc. at murrysvillewatch@gmail.com. 

Murrysville Watch Committee, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization and as such your contributions are tax-deductible.

What's Next: MWC's attorney, John Smith, has already argued at 2 Zoning Hearing Board hearings on MWC's legal challenge in November 2018 and January 2019 (both available at https://www.youtube.com/user/AlysonPA). The zoning hearing board ultimately rejected MWC's challenge and attorney John Smith will next be representing MWC's challenge at the Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas on February 24, 2020.

(Images taken of the Apex Quest well pad in nearby Penn Township)

@copyright Murrysville Watch Committee, Inc.