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.

That response didn’t sit well with some people, including Adams Township resident Shelly Titchen.

“We have a right to send our kids to school in a safe, healthy environment,” she said.

In response, Metcalfe said there have been thousands of wells drilled across the state in the past several years, adding that there have only been two documented accidents during that time.

“One accident is too many,” Titchen said.

At points, tempers flared as a faction of residents tried outshouting the other. There were audible groans in the crowd when Metcalfe took to task the Mars School Board’s handling of a drilling proposal.

The school 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.”

“I think the school board handled that very poorly,” he said.

After that statement, one person said Metcalfe only held that belief because Marburger is challenging him in the primary.

In talking further about gas drilling, Metcalfe said he opposed enacting an extraction tax on Marcellus Shale gas drilling companies, saying businesses in the state already are overtaxed.

He added that drilling companies have already spent about $700 million in repairing roads and other infrastructure after the drilling process is over.