Anti-fracking bicycle trip planned

Three Butler County, PA residents will stage a 400-mile, 14-day bike ride from Butler County to Washington, DC to highlight problems surrounding natural gas drilling near their homes. Jason Bell, Michael Bagdes-Canning and Jill Perry are organizing the Tour de F.R.A.C.K. (Freedom Ride for Awareness and Community Knowledge). The riders will follow the Great Allegany Passage and the C&O Towpath and will hold awareness events in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. “We are planning concerts, increasing public awareness, encouraging activism, collecting testimony, circulating a petition and, finally, meeting with our elected officials all from a bike seat,” said Bagdes-Canning. The riders will depart from Diamond Square in Butler on July 15 and arrive to a rally on the National Mall on July 28. On July 30, the group will deliver a petition and a storybook of personal accounts to Congress, the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency. Visit www.tourdefrack.com for more information.

DEP launches new Oil and Gas webpage

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced the launch of a new Oil and Gas Management Program webpage to better organize information of interest to the public. It features improved data tools and interactive reports, compliance information and training, the latest industry news, DEP proposals open for comment and links to other resources of value to residents, environmental organizations, local government and the oil and gas industry. Visit www.depweb.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/oil_and_gas/6003 for more information.

Oklahoma man charged with theft of steel plates in Wayne County

An Oklahoma man is facing charges of theft and receiving stolen property in Wayne County, PA. George Robert Doll, 58, of Yale, OK is charged with stealing and reselling steel plates valued at almost $300,000 from the Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s 300 Line Project in Wayne and Pike counties. Doll was a superintendent for Henkles and McCoy Inc. He is accused of removing the plates from a prep site off Route 652 in Berlin Township and reselling them to a scrap dealer. Doll was arraigned in Honesdale district court and released on $50,000 unsecured bail.