MIDDLESEX TWP — State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe at his town hall meeting Friday morning criticized the Mars School Board’s handling of a gas drilling proposal, and called a 500-foot drilling overlay “more than adequate” to protect children.

About three dozen people came to the meeting at the Middlesex Township Municipal Building to ask questions and hear Metcalfe, R-12th.

Resident Jason Yost questioned Metcalfe on his stance concerning the overlays, which set rules on how close gas drilling can take place to schools.

Metcalfe said he sees no need to create stricter overlays, adding that he thinks “science has proved (drilling) is safe.”

Also, Metcalfe said it would be a dangerous precedent in allowing municipalities to set their own zoning ordinances for drilling. There are thousands of municipalities in Pennsylvania, he said, and all of them could create different laws for drilling.

In addition, he said a two-mile overlay would basically destroy any chances of drilling for Marcellus Shale in the county, given how many schools are scattered across the landscape.

“We’d shut down drilling in Butler County, totally,” he said.

Also, Metcalfe took to task the Mars School Board’s handling of a drilling proposal.

The board voted against allowing horizontal drilling under any of the 172 acres on which the five schools are built, a move that would have brought $1 million to the district.

School board members gave varying reasons for voting against the proposal, although Gordon Marburger, who is running in the May 20 Republican primary against Metcalfe, wrote a letter to the editor implying the board rejected drilling because of potential land title issues.

At the meeting Friday, Metcalfe called that a “scapegoat” reason and said the school board voted against it only because of a vocal minority at school board meetings.

He went on to say the school board acted in an “irresponsible” manner and that it willingly participated in the dissemination of “misinformation.”