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Politics & Government

Forest Hills Council Discusses Drilling Ban, Approves Police Testing Program

At the Forest Hills council's Wednesday night meeting, a resident pushed for a ban on natural gas drilling in the borough

Wednesday addressed a resident’s effort to have the borough ban natural gas drilling, in addition to a few borough property and public safety issues.

Elizabeth Donohoe of Forest Hills, who has worked with MarcellusProtest.org, distributed advocacy literature to attendees before taking the podium and urging council to ban natural gas drilling. Currently, no such measure is in place.

“Only an outright ban of fracking will stop the abuse of the water, air, land and people,” Donohoe said.

Donohoe said she wants to see the issue included on a council agenda and plans to meet with the borough’s Operations and Policy committee.

Mayor Marty O’Malley said in an interview last week that neither drilling nor fracking—a process in which drillers inject a mixture of water, sand and chemicals into a well at high pressure to fracture rock and release natural gas—has occurred yet in Forest Hills.

Advocates like Donohoe say fracking releases harmful chemicals into groundwater, jeopardizing public health and wildlife.

According to O’Malley, anti-fracking advocates have urged him in the past to ban natural gas drilling. But O’Malley said regulations pertaining to how close wells can be drilled to residential and public places make it unlikely that drillers would tap the area.

“We haven’t banned it, but we haven’t had the need to ban it,” said.

Even so, Donohoe said, air pollution and run-off of contaminated water from neighboring boroughs are concerns.

“Whether or not it happens in Forest Hills, we’re still feeling the effects of it,” Donohoe said. “The ban (would demonstrate) that the council understands the community’s right to clean water and clean air.”

Earlier in the meeting, council approved an ordinance allowing the borough to join an beginning in 2012.

The program is run by the Turtle Creek Valley Council of Government and is intended to reduce costs associated with testing and training police officers by creating a standardized program for the participating boroughs. Officers tested in the program would be able to work in any of the participating communities.

Council also accepted the retirement letter of police secretary Sandy Reech, effective Thursday.

A seemingly innocuous motion to direct the borough arborist to remove a tree planted in a resident’s yard sparked conversation about council’s involvement with the tree and shrub committee.

While council approved the motion—which stated that the removal and replacement of the tree would occur at the resident’s cost—such decisions are typically handled by the committee.

Vivian Broz, a member of the committee, said at a meeting last week that she was afraid residents might begin taking complaints directly to council—which is a problem, she said, since communication between council and the committee has been limited.

“We have not had anyone—and I don’t know who it would be—(representing council at) the tree and shrub committee,” Broz said to council on Wednesday.

President Frank Proco said council would discuss designating a representative for that purpose.

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