Washington Township approves new gas well

CNX Gas Company officials hope residents of Washington Township won’t even notice their latest gas well.

The shale gas drilling site, approved by township supervisors, is to be on previously strip-mined property east of Route 66 and north of Beaver Run Road.

“Our feeling and hope are that no one will even know we are there,” said Andrew Kenner, project manager for CNX, based in Canonsburg.

The entrance to the site will be off Marco Road, Kenner said, and the company is in the process of buying land for an access road.

According to Kenner, the well site will measure 400 feet by 700 feet and will be lit by LED lights mounted on six poles ringing the well site.

“In general it will be a 24-hour operation,” he said.

There will not be truck or construction traffic on nearby Larimer Trail, Kenner said.

Company officials assured residents that the site will use water sources other than Beaver Run Reservoir, including the Kiski River, Crooked Creek and the Allegheny River.

Beaver Run, one of the main water sources for the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County, is much lower than normal for this time of year, according to authority officials. Customers in the area serviced by the reservoir have been under a mandatory conservation order for the past month.

Authority officials said this week that the conservation order will remain in effect, although the level of the reservoir has risen by about three feet recently.

Kenner said anyone living within a 2,500-foot radius of the well will have their water wells tested for contaminants at no cost to them.

Kenner urged residents to call CNX if they start having problems with the well site.

Township supervisors unanimously approved the CNX plan.