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Churchill Residents Speak Out Against Fracking

CHURCHILL (KDKA) -- An overflow crowd of fracking opponents showed up Monday night at a Churchill Borough Council meeting.

While energy company EQT has not filed formal fracking permits in Churchill and immediate surrounding communities, the company has sent out letters to some homeowners asking for mineral rights on their properties.

One Churchill woman at the council meeting held back tears, saying, "I have stage 4 cancer, and I'm scared (by the prospect of fracking), I'll have to to move if there's fracking in my neighborhood."

Another opponent of the natural gas drilling warned, "we have to get our act together, these companies know how to do it, they know how to get around people."

Brandi Whitecloud, who lives near the now-closed Churchill Valley Country Club, echoed the sentiments of many in the crowd, saying that the Churchill area, "was not a wide open area, but rather, it was residential and densely populated."

The Churchill Borough Council has not taken a public stand on fracking, but will schedule a public hearing, likely next month.

Several fracking opponents also spoke out at a Monday night council meeting in neighboring Wilkins Township.

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