At the September 15, 2014 Butler Township commissioner’s meeting, representatives from Rex Energy made two distinct claims that stood out to me, which I decided to research further.  The first was that they were planning on drilling a maximum of 9 wells on the Krendale Golf Course well pad. Having been researching the fracking game since 2012, I did not trust what the drilling company said.  So when my eNotice email came from the Department of Environmental Protection a few days later, I noticed that Rex had applied for 11, not nine, drill-and-operate well permits on the Krendale pad.  The wells were labeled Krendale Unit 2H through 22HR on every even number. I visited the DEP website to verify this fact, and sure enough, there were 11 applications filed for well drilling on the Krendale pad. Wow, I said to myself. Rex lied to the township and to us. They also told the township planning commission the same thing on September 2nd.  Why weren’t they telling us the truth? I attempted to have this fact published in a letter to the editor in the Butler Eagle, but they did not print that part of the letter.  I also printed off and presented all 11 applications to the township commissioners at their October 20th meeting.

Another thing that I found hard to believe was Rex’s claim that they had no idea where the collection pipeline would be placed, even though such a pipeline is critical to the commercial success of a well.  So, into the Butler County Recorder of Deeds online database I went.  And lo and behold, I found five documents in which property owners signed right-of-way agreements with MarkWest, a Colorado-based pipeline company and the contractor for Rex’s pipelines.  The most recent document was dated July 10, 2014, over two months before the meeting at which they made that claim, and it was for the right-of-way on the Krendale property itself.  The pipeline runs along the eastern and northern edges of the golf course (conspicuously avoiding tee boxes by actually going around them), and then turns north off the property.  It passes through two private properties, crosses South Benbrook Road, and goes off down into Connoquenessing Township, ultimately to the Bluestone processing plant in Jackson Township.  I noticed something on the agreement documents for the two properties on the west side of Benbrook Road: they were both signed in November 2013, almost a year before Rex presented their plans to the township.  All of the agreements clearly identified the pipeline as the “Krendale to Bloom B Unit Collection Pipeline,” Bloom B being a well pad in Connoquenessing Township on Whitestown Road. Seems they did know where the pipeline was going after all. These agreements, and a map, were also presented to the commissioners at the October 20th meeting.

So again, Rex had lied to us. So much for being “good neighbors!” I guess this means that we shouldn't really trust these people...

– S.H.