Rostraver zoning board wants Olympus to provide Route 51 pull-off lane

Rostraver Township’s Zoning Hearing Board identified its single biggest concern Wednesday in the matter of granting a special exception for Olympus Energy’s Hera Well Pad project.

“The main issue for this board is that pull-off lane (at Route 51 and Gallitin Road) and the safety it would bring,” said Chairman John Bedell. “That’s going to be the snag with this board.”

Earlier this year, Olympus engineers and their subcontractors met with the board of commissioners, township engineer Carl DeiCas, zoning officer Frank Monack and township planner Tamira Spedaliere to outline their plan for modifying the intersection of state Route 51 and Gallitin Road.

It was decided in those discussions that a “pull-off lane,” for operations trucks traveling northbound on Route 51 was not necessary, nor would it be required by Olympus as condition of its indemnity agreement with the township.

Bedell told Blaine Lucas, lead counsel for Olympus, that he’d like to see the company revisit its intersection improvement plan with the commissioners or the township engineer.

Lucas pointed out that PennDOT would require the township to apply for such a change.

But after adjournment Wednesday night, a group of loosely affiliated residents of both Elizabeth and Rostraver townships — who said they eventually plan to form a group called Yough Community Cares — questioned the notion that the zoning hearing board could consider supplementations to Olympus’ already submitted application. They believe the application also fails to meet some of the burden imposed by township ordinance.

That said, resident and farm owner Kristin Van Strien said she is happy with

ZONING • A7 FROM A1 the board’s thorough review of the application and testimony.

“They’re listening to the township. And they’re basing some of their own questions on our questions and the research we have put in,” Van Strien said.

The zoning board has held hearings concerning the Hera Well Pad question on four previous occasions — March 3, April 13, May 11 and June 8.

There was no decision on the special exception Wednesday and the hearing could continue for at least one more session.

Once the hearing is concluded, the law states the board will have 45 days to render a written decision. Wednesday’s marathon session saw Olympus’ Vice President of Operations Manny Johnson cross-examined by resident Martin Griffith for more than 90 minutes. Griffith pressed Johnson on such topics as the operation’s remote shut-off capabilities, the practice of well-flaring, generalized concerns about environmental risks, other townships’ policy on fencing around operations — which was met with Johnson’s explanation as to why green mesh fencing isn’t preferred and isn’t in effect on any of Olympus’s other sites — idling of diesel trucks/generators, protocols for training first responders and the question of whether citizens will be trained alongside fire departments for emergency preparedness, wildlife and the quality of drinking water near the site, radiation in production fluids and Olympus employee and subcontractor drug testing.

While Johnson summarized some of his industry’s best practices on controversial topics like well-flaring, portions of Griffith’s cross examination were devoted to areas that Johnson considered outside of his purview as VP of Operations.

Griffith’s line of questioning about background checks and drug testing was met with objection and strong rebuke from Lucas.

“There’s nothing in the ordinance,” declared Lucas. “I’m not aware of this township requiring anything for this type of development. It’s irrelevant. It’s inflammatory.”

Lucas cited local case precedent, Range Resources v. Cecil Township Zoning Hearing Board, wherein a judge decided against a township based on the Pennsylvania Criminal History Act.

Shire permitted Griffith’s questioning in the area with the caveat that if Lucas could provide the board with the decision he referenced, the specific questions at hand would be removed from the board’s consideration.

Much latitude was afforded Griffith by Shire throughout his cross examination. The local farm owner, of 373 Gallitin Road, drilled down on safety concerns — especially the company’s emergency response plan (ERP).

Johnson stressed the mindset on Olympus sites, what he described as a topic on everyone’s mind, every day.

“It’s in the framework of our culture to have safety up front,” he said.

But Griffith was disturbed that Johnson didn’t bring the ERP with him to the meeting.

Johnson said he didn’t recall being asked to bring one.

Finally Shire interjected and said “he indicated that’s not his area of expertise.”

Pivoting on a dime, Griffith combined safety and one of the trickiest aspects of hydraulic fracking’s early drilling process.

“What are you trying to prevent while you’re flaring? asked Griffith. “When you’re drilling through the shallow sections you’re going to hit the shallow sandstone that will have natural gas that will come up out of the ground there,” Johnson explained. “What you don’t want is a combustible … you wouldn’t want that coming up through your rig floor.”

After Johnson described the unintended surfacing of natural gas in shallow drilling situations and its subsequent diversion to a flare stack, Griffith jump cut to catastrophism and asked “So that could cause an explosion?”

Johnson replied, “No sir.”

“Has anyone ever died on an Olympus site,” asked Griffith.

“No sir,” said Johnson.

The meeting’s most curious turn came after Griffith cited an article that purportedly states that an Olympus employee was life-flighted from Elizabeth Township after a truck overturned.

A disagreement ensued about the case where one employee did in fact succumb to injuries on a job site run by Huntley & Huntley, Inc.

Lucas was insistent that Griffith clarify for the record that the Huntley and Huntley, Inc. cited in the article by Griffith was not in fact the same company from which Olympus evolved by name change.

Huntley and Huntley, Inc., Lucas said, has been around for, “perhaps a hundred years.” A different, not at all associated company called Huntley and Huntley Energy Exploration was started in 2012. That company then changed its name to Olympus Energy in 2019, said Lucas.

This distinction met with some murmurs from those in attendance. One resident, made party to the case, said there are two board members who are listed on both companies’ websites.