5th gas well pad planned in Frazer

Plans for a fifth unconventional fracking well pad in Frazer are underway.

Lori Ziencik, township secretary and supervisor, said Range Resources received permitting July 20 for the Drape James well pad, which would be located at 60 Kenny Lane.

“It’s a permitted use in that zoning district, which is rural agricultural,” Ziencik said.

“This is the fifth Marcellus well Range has drilled in the township.”

Mark Windle, a spokesman for Range Resources, said there is not a firm timeline on the construction for the fifth well pad.

Ziencik said the township has a good relationship with Range Resources. Windle said Range Resources has been operating in Frazer safely for over a decade.

Frazer is home to the area’s first unconventional fracking well — the Yute well.

The Yute well was completed in 2010. It’s located on a hill behind the Pittsburgh Mills mall, at 1305 Yutes Run Road.

There are currently six active natural gas wells at the Yute site.

In 2012, Range drilled the Schiller well, at 1845 Bakerstown Road. There are five active wells at Schiller.

Other wells in Frazer, also built by Range, include one at 1872 Bakerstown Road, and the Gulick well pad, at 191 Fairfield Road.

There are 12 wells on each of those well pads.

Frazer’s neighbor, West Deer, is working its way through drilling proposals in its government.

Olympus Energy of Cecil Township has presented three well pad proposals in West Deer. The Tyche project would be located at 201 Bairdford Road, west of the Pittsburgh National Golf Club. The application for that project was submitted in July.

Supervisors granted approval for the Leto well pad, off Oak Road, but nearby residents have appealed that decision.

The third well pad, Dionysus, was denied by the township in 2021 and an appeal of that decision, from Olympus Energy, was withdrawn.