Sick and tired of water extraction, a small contingent of West Penn Township residents staged a protest outside the township’s municipal building Tuesday night.

Resident Allison McArdle was among the roughly 20 people who stood holding signs opposed to water extraction about a half-hour before the start of the township’s board of supervisors meeting.“We’re fed up with not getting answers,” McArdle said. “Everybody’s passing the ball.”McArdle said she was pleased with the turnout.“We’re going to try to do this every month until we get some satisfaction,” she said.Her husband, Phillip McArdle, is equally frustrated.“They’re proposing commercial truck traffic on township roads that have children at play signs,” he said. “They rob people of their peaceful place of living.”Before the start of the meeting, board Chairman Jim Dean offered his take on the protest.“That’s their constitutional right,” Dean said. “And if that can help the situation as they see fit, that’s certainly something they can do.”Jay Land, president and owner of Ringgold Acquisition Group II LLC, was not present either during the protest, or the board of supervisors meeting.Later, the McArdles and other residents expressed their concerns to supervisors during the public comment portion of the meeting.“When our wells start drying up, nobody’s going to want to buy our property because we’re going to have a bad rap,” Allison McArdle said. “It’s a problem. You can’t continue to take water out of (one) area and not have repercussions.”Resident Dave Osenbach said the matter in question was supposed to be shut down, and it’s not being shut down.Supervisor Tony Prudenti said the state views water harvesting as an agricultural use.“I don’t want you to think for one second that we’re giving up,” Prudenti said. “We just can’t put a stop to it today.”Residents with complaints or concerns may call the Department of Environmental Protection’s Wilkes-Barre office at 570-826-2511.Resident Dwayne Kistler said he was upset that the roads in the township are not posted.Prudenti said the reason for that is there’s a lawsuit pending against the township.Kistler then asked why overweight trucks hauling the water are not being cited.Supervisors said a seminar concerning posting and bonding will be held in March.Phillip McArdle said, “It’s really hard to be in our position.”He added that the “lawsuits are just going to be horrendous.”“People are speeding up there,” McArdle said. “Innocent people are going to get hurt.”Resident Larry Stival said his concern is actually the traffic on Blue Mountain Drive, and that he believes some decisions need to be made about the traffic on that road.On Jan. 13, a group of residents filed a lawsuit in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia County against businesses and people associated with water extraction operations in the township. At the center of the lawsuit is the water extraction site at the intersection of Kepners Road and Blue Mountain Drive, and a newer water extraction site being erected at 1 Fort Franklin Road.Land said last month that he sued DEP two years ago. The suit, which is still ongoing, is a permanent injunction issued against the department, requiring them to honor a permit that was issued about 15 years ago to MC Resource Development.