York Township is one of the sixteen
townships
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
of
Belmont County, Ohio
Belmont County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 66,497. Its county seat is St. Clairsville. The county was created on September 7, 1801, and organized on November 7, 1801.McKelvey, ...
, United States. The
2020 census found 2,320 people in the township.
Geography
Located in the southeastern corner of the county along the
Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
, it borders the following townships:
*
Mead Township – north
*
Switzerland Township, Monroe County – south
*
Washington Township – west
Marshall County, West Virginia
Marshall County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 30,591. Its county seat is Moundsville. With its southern border at what would be a continuation of the Mason-Dixon line to the Ohio River, ...
, lies across the Ohio River to the east.
The village of
Powhatan Point is located in southeastern York Township along the Ohio River.
Name and history
It is one of ten
York Townships statewide.
In February 2018, an explosion and
blowout in a natural gas well in York Township owned by
XTO Energy
XTO Energy Inc. is an American energy company and subsidiary of ExxonMobil principally operating in North America. Acquired by ExxonMobil in 2010 and based out of Spring, Texas, it is involved with the production, processing, transportation, and ...
was detected by the Copernicus
Sentinel-5P
Sentinel-5 Precursor (Sentinel-5P) is an Earth observation satellite developed by European Space Agency, ESA as part of the Copernicus Programme to close the gap in continuity of observations between Envisat and Sentinel-5.
Overview
Sentinel-5 Pr ...
satellite's Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument.
About 30 homes were evacuated, and
brine
Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...
and
produced water
Produced water is a term used in the oil industry or geothermal industry to describe water that is produced as a byproduct during the extraction of Petroleum, oil and natural gas, or used as a medium for heat extraction. Produced water is the kind ...
were discharged into streams flowing into the Ohio River.
The blowout lasted 20 days, releasing more than 50,000 tons of
methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...
, a potent
greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorbs and Emission (electromagnetic radiation), emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse ...
, into the atmosphere. The blowout leaked more methane than is discharged by most European nations in a year from their oil and gas industries.
Government
The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township fiscal officer,
§503.24
§505.01
an
§507.01
of the Ohio Revised Code
The ''Ohio Revised Code'' contains all current statutes of the Ohio General Assembly of a permanent and general nature, consolidated into provisions, titles, chapters and sections. However, the only official publication of the enactments of the G ...
. Accessed 4/30/2009. who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. Vacancies in the fiscal officership or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.
References
External links
County website
{{authority control
Townships in Belmont County, Ohio
Townships in Ohio
Environmental disasters in the United States