In 2016, Food & Water Watch initiated a review of the zoning codes of 105 of Allegheny County’s 130 municipalities. What we found was alarming. Ten years after fracking had arrived in Pennsylvania, most of Allegheny County had yet to take any action to address this impactful land use.   

The state of fracking in Allegheny County

With pro-drilling politicians in power in Harrisburg, only an elected local government has the power to appropriately protect communities from the harms of land uses associated with unconventional shale gas extraction, commonly known as “fracking.”  In 2009, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court made clear that our local governments have the exclusive power to decide, via their zoning powers, where fracking and related operations may occur within their respective municipalities. 

In Allegheny County, that means that 130 local governments have the obligation to take action to develop comprehensive plans and enact zoning ordinances that respond to land uses associated with unconventional shale gas extraction and protect the community’s health, welfare, and safety.  

While Allegheny County is like an island in a sea of fracking activities, it remains largely unprepared for the expansion of fracking.

Pennsylvania already has over 10,000 fracking wells. With more pipelines and fossil fuel infrastructure in the works, there will be a push for new drilling, some of it in communities that have – so far –been spared by the ravages of the fracking industry.

But fracking can be stopped in places like Allegheny County, by local leaders who are ready to enforce regulations to protect their communities.

Food & Water Watch’s Municipal Ordinance Project (MOP) is designed to work with Allegheny County communities in their efforts to promote the development of protective zoning ordinances.

Why Zoning Matters

In the fall of 2016, Food & Water Watch reviewed over 105 Allegheny County municipal zoning codes, and the results were shocking! Over 50 municipalities had no ordinances at all governing this most impactful land use. Many others that did have them were woefully out of date. Only a handful of municipalities were proactive and had enacted zoning ordinances that protected citizens and the character of their communities. 

The core purposes of the MOP are to:

• Identify municipalities that don’t have local ordinances to appropriately address shale gas production,
• Engage with the local government and citizens to have them enact appropriate ordinances that protect the whole community to limit the scope of the adverse health and safety impacts caused by unconventional shale gas drilling operations,
• And organize local citizens to become effective advocates for the enactment of appropriate ordinances and to sustain citizen engagement and empowerment over the long term.  

Local Control for Local Safety

The best way to protect a community is to empower local officials to do what’s right for their neighbors. In 2017, Food & Water Watch surveyed Allegheny County local government officials — the results showed strong support for making drilling decisions at the local level. They also overwhelmingly said that safety and environmental concerns about fracking within their jurisdictions were the most important factors in crafting responsible zoning regulations.

We listened to those results and are working with community leaders, local elected officials, and allied organizations to improve zoning codes that will preserve the character of their towns, protect public safety, and comply with state law.

Here is our general “how-to” for communities:

When communities fight, they win!

Here are just a few of our success stories in Allegheny County communities!

Oakmont, PA

In June 2017, unconventional driller, Huntley & Huntley, notified Oakmont that they intended to initiate a seismic survey of the municipality. On December 18, 2017, Citizens to Protect Oakmont and Food & Water Watch, submitted its recommendations to the Council regarding amendments to Oakmont’s zoning code that address oil and gas development. The Council adopted nearly all of the offered recommendations. 

We worked with community leaders and local elected officials to pass an ordinance regulating seismic testing; after the ordinance was enacted Huntley & Huntley reversed course.

At one time, drilling was allowed in Oakmont’s residential districts but only in their parks! Today, Oakmont has a strong code that relegates fracking to a small industrial zone with a 1,500 foot setback from homes and other buildings in the borough.

The people of Oakmont are fighting back. Citizens to Protect Oakmont and Food & Water Watch are canvassing to advise residents of the dangers of seismic testing and to urge them not to permit seismic testing on their property.

East Pittsburgh/Edgar Thompson Well Site

In 2020, grassroots organizing successfully stopped the construction of the Edgar Thomson Well Site, which would have greatly exacerbated the ongoing degradation of air quality in Pennsylvania. At first, both the fracking company and US Steel attempted to appeal the rejected permit, but by 2021, US Steel officially threw in the towel. The Edgar Thompson Well Site proposal would have been located in the most densely populated area for a fracking project we have seen thus far, right in the heart of the Mon Valley, an environmental justice community. 

East Pittsburgh Borough Council then passed amendments to their oil and gas ordinance that we had drafted. The passage of this ordinance ensures that no fracking wells nor upstream/downstream facilities will ever be sited in East Pittsburgh — protecting residents and future generations to come!

Allegheny County Parks 
In 2015, fracking hit the parks of Allegheny County, PA. But after a whirlwind year of organizing, we passed a ban on fracking in our treasured green spaces. Read more here!

Your community can win, too

Ready to fight back against fracking in your community? We’re ready to help so let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work! Contact Robin Lesko, our Senior Organizer in Allegheny County at [email protected] and tell her you’re ready to smack down fracking!