Thursday, May 24, 2012

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania rules that a compressor station is considered gas production under zoning ordinances


On May 9th the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania reversed the Court of Common Pleas of McKean County.  New Century Pipeline had appealed after the Court of Common Pleas had affirmed the Bradford Township Zoning Board’s decision that the compressor station, located at the wellhead, was not permitted because zoning ordinances only allowed gas production, which the zoning board had interpreted as drilling and pumping operations. The Commonwealth Court held that a “compressor station is gas production…and, as such, a permitted use” under the zoning ordinance. The Court reasoned that a compressor station was part of gas production because without a compressor station, the gas collected at the wellhead could not be placed into a pipeline and moved from the site.

Written by Joseph Negaard, Research Assistant
May 24, 2012

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