CHARLESTON, W.Va.--A natural gas company is suing the City of Morgantown for tens of millions of dollars over a recent decision by city officials to ban the controversial drilling method used to get Marcellus shale natural gas.
Charleston-based Northeast Natural Energy filed the suit last week in Monongalia County Circuit Court. The company is accusing Morgantown officials of dealing a "death blow" to gas drilling in the area, violating the state constitution and depriving the company of its property rights.
Northeast said it had already invested $7 million on its site when City Council voted last week to ban hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," in Morgantown or within a mile of its borders. Environmentalists and others worry the chemical serum that gas companies use in the fracking fluid can pollute water supplies, despite industry assurances it will not.
The city has already won one round in the legal battle. A circuit court judge on Friday denied Northeast's request for a restraining order to keep Morganton from enforcing the ban.
Northeast's larger lawsuit said Morgantown officials have overreached their authority, particularly because state regulators have approved the company's drilling plans.
"Simply put, Morgantown is impermissibly reaching out beyond its borders to regulate oil and gas activities that are exclusively regulated by the state, and in so doing, it is unlawfully 'taking' the property rights of everyone with an interest in Marcellus shale gas in the area without any compensation whatsoever," the lawsuit, prepared by Spilman Thomas and Battle, said.
State law gives cities the rights to exercise some authority up to a mile outside of city limits.
Northeast's drill site at the Morgantown Industrial Park is outside city limits but within a mile of Morgantown. It is also near the city's water treatment plant.
Northeast said Morgantown is creating a "confusing situation" that "promises to get even more dysfunctional in the very near future" because the site is also within a mile of the city of Westover. City officials there are considering an ordinance that would regulate drilling in the city and within a mile of its borders but would allow fracking "if it's safe," according to the lawsuit.
"As a result, if the Westover ordinance is enacted, horizontal drilling and fracking activities at the (industrial park) site will, ostensibly, be governed by three separate, inconsistent and irreconcilable regulations," Northeast said.
The company also said it is seeking "tens of millions of dollar for Morgantown's unlawful taking of its property rights."
Morgantown Mayor Bill Byrne said city official only acted because state lawmakers had failed to do anything to regulate development of the Marcellus shale.
"It's certainly true that this whole thing should not be regulated at the local level, it should be regulated at the state level, but the problem is the state has failed to do so," Byrne said in a telephone interview Sunday.
Northeast's President Michael John said in an interview last week that he did not want to sue Morgantown.
"What I've said so far is that we really do not want to sue the city of Morgantown, we do not want to see the citizens and taxpayers of Morgantown be exposed to financial liability associated with this council's passage of this ordinance," John said.
John said the company had agreed to take measures "above and beyond" what the state DEP requires companies to do.
