A committee geared toward protecting Murrysville from potential dangers caused by Marcellus Shale drilling is about to finish what it started.

Over three-plus months, the ad hoc committee consisting of council members, administrators and residents met to exchange ideas, conduct research and work to create an ordinance that will protect Murrysville should gas companies set up shop and drill deep into the earth.

According to council President Joan Kearns, the group's work is just about done.

"We are very close to sending a draft of an ordinance regarding drilling into the Marcellus Shale," she said earlier this week. "It would regulate what the gas companies can and cannot do should they come and want to drill."

The committee consists of 10 people: Ms. Kearns, fellow council members Dave Perry and Jeff Kepler, chief administrator Jim Morrison and residents Fred Baldassare, Gary McCloskey, Jayne Hoy, Bob Stemler, Scott Blauvelt and Dave Rockman.

Some have knowledge of issues related to Marcellus Shale drilling. Mr. Blauvelt works locally as a geologist, while Mr. Baldassare is employed with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

"This is definitely a high-horsepower group with a lot of knowledge we can tap into," Mr. Perry said in June, when the group was created.

Ms. Kearns said one of the main tasks of the committee was to research other communities that are dealing with the same Marcellus Shale issues that Murrysville will soon face.

"We wanted to see what would work and what would not work for us," she said. "It is important for us to find what would be a best fit for the community and what would not."

Ms. Kearns said the group met about a half-dozen times. Each gathering was deemed productive, she added.

"Everyone worked well together," she said. "It was a productive endeavor."

The ordinance is expected to go to the planning commission later this month. Ms. Kearns said she could not comment on the ordinance because it had not yet been made public.

Murrysville began to prepare for drilling this spring when representatives from Range Resources hosted a public information session at Franklin Regional High School detailing the advantages of deep well gas drilling.

Since then, Murrysville council has hosted multiple informational sessions detailing how the companies go about the drilling process and how drilling affects the community from a financial and environmental standpoint.

Earlier this summer, council supported a call by state Sen. James Ferlo, D-Highland Park, for a statewide one-year moratorium on drilling in the Marcellus Shale in the wake of a gas well explosion in Clearfield County that sent waste water spewing high into the air.

"We need to do what we can to protect our community," said Mayor Bob Brooks during an earlier council meeting.

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