MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown is keeping a municipal ban on Marcellus shale gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing on the books even though a judge has declared it unconstitutional and unenforceable.

Morgantown City Council may soon rescind an ordinance intended to ban Marcellus shale gas drilling within city limits and up to a mile beyond, but Mayor Jim Manilla said on Monday the issue isn't over yet.

A major Marcellus Shale drilling company is challenging a southwestern Pennsylvania township's ordinance to regulate oil and gas well development. Range Resources-Appalachia LLC filed the notice Tuesday challenging the validity of the South Fayette Township ordinance, which the Pittsburgh suburb gave final approval to last month.

A Morgantown, West Virginia, ban on fracking has been overturned by Monongahela County Circuit Judge Susan Tucker. The order was issued Friday afternoon, just five days before a scheduled hearing on the ban.

A court ruling that invalidates Morgantown's ban on Marcellus Shale gas drilling gives West Virginia's oil and gas producers the certainty they need to keep expanding operations, an industry leader said Monday.

City Manager Mark Henne says council rescinded an ordinance passed in May with a 5-3 vote Tuesday.

Northeast Natural Energy, the company developing two Marcellus shale gas wells just outside Morgantown city limits, claims it is entitled to tens of millions of dollars in compensation if the city’s anti-fracking ordinance survives its legal challenge.

The constitutionality of Morgantown City Council's recently passed ordinance banning Marcellus Shale gas drilling operations is being challenged in court. Northeast Natural Energy, a company operating two Marcellus gas wells in the Morgantown area, filed a complaint in Monongalia County Circuit Court Friday asking for a temporary injunction to block the ordinance.

The constitutionality of Morgantown's new ban on Marcellus shale gas drilling within a mile of its borders is facing a court challenge

Morgantown's new ban on Marcellus shale gas drilling within a mile of its borders is facing a court challenge. The ordinance applies only to unconventional horizontal gas wells and a practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Northeast Natural Energy sued the city last week in Monongalia County Circuit Court.

After several hours of public comment Morgantown became the latest city in the state to ban the practice of fracking. Twenty-nine people spoke during the public hearing held before the final vote with 22 speaking out in favor of the ban. Of the seven people who spoke against the ban, six were from companies that are actively drilling and fracking wells in West Virginia.

Morgantown City Council has directed the city attorney to draft an ordinance banning hydraulic fracturing within and near city limits for consideration at its June 7 meeting. The ordinance is one of two approaches to a gas well drilling or fracking ban that were discussed at great length at council’s May 31 Committee of the Whole meeting. The other was set aside for further consideration, but not placed on next week’s agenda.

Natural gas drilling and fracking are no longer allowed within the limits or within a mile of the limits of a Brooke County city. The ban has already taken effect in Wellsburg after a 4-3 vote from Wellsburg's City Council earlier this week. Wellsburg Mayor Sue Simonetti cast the deciding vote Tuesday night since, two Council members were absent because of illnesses. "Once the water source is gone, it is done, so we have to protect the residents and our water supply," the mayor said of the decision.