EQT believes it has found a way to keep drawing natural gas from a roughly $60 million fracking site in Elizabeth Township, despite a court ruling against the operation and amid resident concerns over the project’s proximity to the local high school. The permitting fix involves splitting the property into separate lots — one including the fracking operation.
The project’s future now sits with the township commissioners, who have 45 days to approve or deny a permit following a 3-hour conditional use hearing on Tuesday, where residents voiced concerns over the possible environmental and health impacts of a project less than a half-mile from the Elizabeth Forward High School.
“I’m ashamed of everybody here. We don’t give a damn about any of our kids,” Fred Bickerton, an Elizabeth Township resident, said at the hearing. “We know that [gas] wells have catastrophic failures. How the hell do we get our kids away from the school if there is one?”…