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W. Penn township water extraction discussed

A West Penn Township resident is the latest to ask that a moratorium be put on water extraction in the community.

Resident David Lapinsky said at Monday morning's board of supervisors meeting that he believes what's taking place is not water harvesting, but rather, water extraction."My suggestion is to put a moratorium on this," Lapinsky said.Supervisor Tony Prudenti said that was his recommendation on his very first day in office, but that the board's former solicitor had left now-board solicitor Holly Heintzelman a letter indicating that a moratorium would not be legal.Heintzelman agreed that no moratorium should be placed on water extraction in the township."I'm more frustrated than you are with this," Prudenti said.Lapinsky added that, "It's frustrating for many of the township residents who don't come to these meetings."Prudenti reiterated his stance that his concern remains getting trucks off the township's roads."It's a problem," he said. "These residents didn't sign up for that."Jay Land, president and owner of Ringgold Acquisition Group II LLC, informed the board that a settlement was recently reached between M.C. Resource Development Company and the state Department of Environmental Protection on property known as Pine Valley, which has been a raw spring water source for bottled water plants.Land then thanked the board, as well as its predecessor board, for not only dealing with water extraction, but also for treating him with respect under the circumstances.Last month, Prudenti said his solution to get truck traffic off the township's roads was to negotiate a water extraction and road agreement with Land, and suggested that at Land's expense, he run a pipeline out onto a state road.Prudenti said the township is trying to update the township's water extraction ordinance to try to make it a little bit tougher than it is right now.At the board's May 15 meeting, Prudenti, in a letter to the board, said he would like to propose that the board, on behalf of the township, negotiate a water extraction and road agreement with Land.As a starting point, Prudenti proposed they negotiate that the zone of influence be extended to a 1½-mile radius. The current DEP zone of influence is a quarter-mile, he said.Prudenti also suggested constructing a pipeline to state roads for the loading of water into trucks, with the township helping procure rights of way if it is not able to use its own.Additionally, Prudenti suggested a $10,000 yearly road maintenance and repair fee for each well site for roads affected by truck traffic.Prudenti has said on several occasions that the township has to look at protecting residents' wells, eliminating truck traffic and saving roads.