Nearly half of all registered voters in Clara Township, Potter County have signed on in support of a measure to consider Home Rule powers for the township to help protect their environment from a proposed drilling waste injection well.

The initiative was organized by the Concerned Citizens for Clara Township.

Earlier this year, residents learned Roulette Oil and Gas LLC (ROGC) applied for a Class II Injection Well Permit. Injection wells receive waste from oil and gas wells that is known to be radioactive and contain chemicals that cause cancer. The wells have also been found to cause earthquakes in some circumstances.

Residents of Clara Township rely on private wells or springs, which are susceptible to contamination by leaks and spills of waste water during transportation, storage and injection. Once injected underground, waste has been known to migrate miles through natural cracks and fissures.

“Our work towards Home Rule is about making sure that our community gets to decide important issues, not just the Board of Supervisors,” said Rob Wylie, a member of CCCT and also a Clara Township supervisor. “And, this isn’t just about us. This is about protecting the health and safety of those in ours and neighboring townships, Potter County, and across the state.”

The mountain in Clara where the proposed injection well would be located drains toward streams that feed the Upper Allegheny River, which provides over 500,000 people with their drinking water.

The Allegheny joins the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh and together they form the Ohio River, a drinking water source for more than five million people.

Clara’s efforts also coincide with those of Grant Township, a couple hours southwest in Indiana County. Grant Township has been fighting a frack waste injection well since 2013, and democratically enacted a Home Rule Charter in 2015 banning frack waste.

Grant Township has been sued in state and federal court-- by the industry as well as the Department of Environmental Protection-- and their case will be heading to trial later this summer.

“We’re proud to work with Clara Township on this effort,” said Chad Nicholson, organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which is assisting CCCT. “This isn’t just about frack waste, it’s about the future of Pennsylvania communities. Who gets to make the most important decisions where we live?”

NewsClip:
Public Herald: Officials Want To Ban Oil & Gas Injection Wells At PA Headwaters

Related Articles:

-- Grant Twp. Indiana County Defends Itself Against Another Lawsuit By PA General Energy Company Over Its Ordinance Banning Drilling Waste Injection Wells Based On Environmental Rights Amendment

-- Grant Twp., Indiana County Moves To Dismiss Lawsuit Against It By DEP Over Drilling Waste Injection Well

-- DEP Revokes Drilling Waste Injection Well Permit In Grant Twp., Indiana County After Environmental Rights Amendment Court Ruling

-- Court: Indiana County Twp. Has Right To Defend Its Prohibition Of A Drilling Wastewater Injection Well Using The Environmental Rights Amendment

[Posted: March 17, 2021]

3/22/2021