New gas bill passed

[Velvet Jones]

Originally Posted by jimmyev

Retail trade markets cover an extremely wide area. And they're different how?



Stores, hotel, residential developments need to be put where they are most efficient and practical. You wouldn't put a Big Lots in the middle of Fox Chapel or an H&M in Homewood and be expecting to make money. So how is this different?



The market for a particular retail or hotel may cover three or four municipalities but the only good location is the one that bans you. Actually doesn't ban you, because zoning can't be used to ban a specific use in PA, but puts so many limits and conditions in the zoning ordinance that you simply can't build there. Same story, different verse. So, again, how is this 'different'? And where is my exemption from the vagaries of local zoning?

I think if you look at a zoning maps you'll find little to no individual retail development that cross municipal boundaries. Lots rarely even cross municipal boundaries. Also, it is hard to compare a hotel or shopping mall with a well. The well has to go where the gas is. This is a fact that the anti-drillers don't seem to grasp. I've actually heard well opponents say "Why don't they put these wells in the middle of no where?". Well, if there is gas there then I'm sure they would be happy to. Unfortunately there are large gas deposits under populated areas in western PA.

[greg42]

The horizontal distance is measured in miles though, so it doesn't have to be that kind of pinpoint precision at all I wouldn't think. There may be an optimum positioning within that distance I suppose, but there should be plenty of wiggle room.

So far the rush seems to be (at least anywhere close to here) to get old leases producing before they expire. They pay a lot less on those I gather.

I've started wondering with the gas prices as depressed as they are, if the whole thing won't be mostly moot for a while anyway. But it seems unlikely they'll stay that low forever. My gas bill sure is dirt cheap with the combo of low prices and warm weather....

[jimmyev]

Originally Posted by Velvet Jones

I think if you look at a zoning maps you'll find little to no individual retail development that cross municipal boundaries. Lots rarely even cross municipal boundaries.

The market area, which is the area the development is pulling customers from, may cross several boundaries in many instances. (See, the concept of 'market area' is so unique and special to retail that you drilling people don't even know what it means.)

Originally Posted by Velvet Jones

Also, it is hard to compare a hotel or shopping mall with a well.

You are right on target here. Every industry has its unique requirements; every industry is 'special.' Yet industries that have been in southwestern PA for 50 or 60 years, navigating the inconsistent vagaries of local zoning ordinances, don't get a special exemption from those regulations. Only Johnny-come-lately drilling does.

Originally Posted by Velvet Jones

The well has to go where the gas is. This is a fact that the anti-drillers don't seem to grasp.

The development has to go where the market is. That's a fact that you don't seem to grasp. Some big developers would love to build in Sewickley, but the borough passed all these zoning laws that basically prohibit it. Some developers are attracted to the market in Cranberry Township, a unique market that only exists - like a gas field - in that particular place, but then there are those pesky development fees and impact fees the Township charges.

Originally Posted by Velvet Jones

I've actually heard well opponents say "Why don't they put these wells in the middle of no where?". Well, if there is gas there then I'm sure they would be happy to. Unfortunately there are large gas deposits under populated areas in western PA.

Same goes for a dozen other industries that aren't exempt from zoning. So why is drilling special? That's a rhetorical question, because it's not any more unique or special than any other industry.

With that out of the way, we want to know how much money it's gonna cost to designate us as being 'special' too. We don't like those zoning regs either.