Cornell Planning Students research on impacts of drilling in PA Dec. 12, 7pm

On Sunday evening December 12th graduate and undergraduate students from the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University will host a public meeting at 7:00 PM in the Town of Ithaca Town Hall, 215 North Tioga Street, Ithaca.  The students will present their findings on some of the impacts and issues associated with Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania to members of the public.
For the past three months the students in the field workshop have been studying several aspects of the industry and its impacts in Bradford County, PA and elsewhere in that state.  The four issue areas that the workshop participants have focused on are:  impacts on housing, visual impacts, water quality, and land use and zoning.
The workshop participants have travelled to Bradford County to speak with residents and public officials, and to observe drilling operations, impacts on roads and short- and long-term impacts of drilling operations on the land.  In addition they have heard from a number of guest speakers actively involved in the issue in Bradford County.
The ability of local municipalities to control the industry is a key issue that the workshop participants have been investigating.  Although state laws may pre-empt local governments from regulating actual drilling operations, many other activities in support of drilling may be subject to local zoning regulations, and local governments can have a major role in deciding where such activities will occur and ensuring that their adverse impacts are mitigated.  A number of recent court decisions in Pennsylvania have also opened the door for local governments to exert more control over where natural gas drilling may occur within their boundaries.
For more information on the workshop and presentations contact George Frantz at grf4@cornell.edu.