MIDDLESEX TWP — Township officials put out a public statement on Wednesday, Sept. 17, assuring residents no new natural gas drilling was to occur on township land or property anytime soon.

The move came after numerous township residents reported receiving letters from energy company EQT that erroneously implied they were living close to a drilling operation.

The letters instructed the recipient to fill out the included survey and return it to EQT’s partner surveying company.

During the supervisors meeting, township resident Robin Peffer spoke about the letter she received from EQT.

“The letter is incorrect. It states ‘West Deer Township, Butler County,’ versus. ‘Middlesex Township, Butler County,’” Peffer said. “Additionally, it said that they'll be within 1,100 feet of my property. Well, 1,100 feet is 0.2 miles, which is not in West Deer Township.”

She was far from alone.

According to township manager Jeffrey Winkle, even the township’s own municipal building received one of the faulty letters from EQT.

“The information contained in the letter had a lot of errors, a lot of missing or incorrect information, which then alerted the residents to say, ‘Wait a minute, this information isn’t correct,’” said Winkle. “I’ve worked the last two days to finally get ahold of EQT and talk to an individual. He explained that there is no drilling activity by EQT in Middlesex Township. They have no approvals or any activity. They do have two existing pads in West Deer Township.

“They were supposed to send letters only to residents in West Deer and then anybody within 1,100 feet of the border.”

West Deer Township is in Allegheny County and partially borders Middlesex Township to the south.

According to a map from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Middlesex Township does have five well pads, but all of them are owned by PennEnergy.