Two environmental groups and some Middlesex residents are appealing recent changes to the township's zoning ordinances that allowed Marcellus shale drilling in most of the township.

Clean Air Council and Delaware Riverkeeper Network, along with several residents, said that the zoning changes, adopted Aug. 13, remove protections to residential neighborhoods from “dangerous industrial activities,” according to a joint statement the groups released Friday.

The parties filed the appeal with the township's Zoning Hearing Board, according to the statement.

Mike Gallagher, the zoning board's solicitor, wasn't immediately available for comment.

Supervisors Michael Spreng, Donald P. Marshall and James Evans voted to allow oil and gas drilling in rural residential, agricultural and residential agricultural areas. The new ordinance allows drilling conditionally in several other areas, including highway commercial and regional commercial.

The ordinance allows a natural gas processing plant only in regional commercial and restricted industrial areas. It allows conditional use of a natural gas compressor station in rural residential and agricultural areas.