Gas Drilling In Chartiers Twp. Creating Unbearable Noise Pollution
CHARTIERS TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- A Washington County community says the noise created by nearby drilling is destroying their quality of life, even keeping some of them up at night.
"Myself and my fellow neighbor's receive nothing but the burden," neighbor Stephen Plonski said.
Plonski is talking about the humming sound that comes from a well pad operated by Range Resources. The Moritz site is currently in its fracking stage and Plonski says it makes it hard to sleep at night.
"The noise is noticeable, it's constant, it's akin to having freight trains running past your home 24/7," Plonski said.
The Bird Run site is also nearby. Neighbor's say the site was just as noisy a few weeks ago, but fracking has since stopped there.
Officials with Chartiers Township say they received two complaints from residents this week, and had a handful of complaints a few weeks ago.
"We have a noise ordinance, as well as conditions of approval for these two well sites, included in compliance with that they had to maintain a sound level of 60 decibels at the property line," Chartiers Township Manager Jodi Noble said.
Range Resources agreed to put up sound walls at Bird Run and are in the process of putting up walls at the Moritz site Tuesday. If they don't comply with the township, they will be cited.
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The township says Range Resources has been cooperative. However, some say that's not enough.
"None of the neighbor's that reside in our community, we had no stake in this. We received no benefit. We don't own our oil and gas rights. Our developer retained all of those rights without telling us what was going on," Plonski said.
Officials with Range Resources say they determine who gets compensated on a case-by-case basis. It's based on who gets impacted the most from the drilling. Officials say drilling should be done within the next few weeks.
