Mountain Lake Park passes ordinance banning natural gas drilling in town

Mayor says town’s duty to ‘take action’ when other levels of government are not
From Staff Reports
The Cumberland Times-News Sat Mar 05, 2011, 08:00 AM EST

MOUNTAIN LAKE PARK — Residents of this small Western Maryland town are telling natural gas drilling companies to stay away, in no uncertain terms.

Town leaders approved an ordinance Thursday night that effectively bans the creation of new gas wells, a response to the gas industry’s increased interest in developing wells in the Allegany and Garrett County portions of the Marcellus shale reserve.

The ordinance, which had a first reading in January and public hearing in February, was unanimously approved.

“Our town government is responsible for the health, safety and rights of our citizens,” Mayor Leo Martin said in a press release. “When the county, state and federal governments fail in their duties it is our duty to take action.”

Called Mountain Lake Park’s Community Protection from Natural Gas Extraction Ordinance, the law was modeled after a similar ordinance adopted by the city of Pittsburgh in November.

Martin encouraged other Maryland municipalities to take a similar stand.

“If Pittsburgh can do it, we can do it,” Martin said in a press release.

But can Garrett County?

At a January public hearing that drew an estimated 300 people, Garrett County’s attorney Gorman Getty said that legally, the county doesn’t have the authority to ban drilling because it doesn’t have a comprehensive zoning ordinance.

The Marcellus shale issue has spurred controversy across the region as residents are weighing its benefits and costs.

While tapping into the vast natural gas resource could bring economic growth to the area and wealth to private landowners, concerns have been raised about whether the processes used are safe in terms of the environment and public health.

About 150 residents gathered at the Palace Theatre in Frostburg Thursday night for a panel discussion, which pitted gas industry representative Gregory Wrightstone against filmmaker and gas industry critic Josh Fox. A majority of audience members appeared to be against drilling in Allegany and Garrett counties.

Mountain Lake Park’s ordinance includes a local Bill of Rights that asserts legal protections for the “right to water, the rights of natural communities and ecosystems, the right to local self-government, and the right of the people to enforce and protect these rights by banning corporate activities that would violate them.”

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, headquartered in Chambersburg, Pa., drafted the ordinance.

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