AJ News

Mauri Rapp Abington Journal Correspondent

More than 1,900 natural gas leases were issued by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 2009, according to the governor’s office. Some of those can be attributed to the 32,000 acres of state forest land recently leased by major gas companies.

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And the Sierra Club says that’s not OK.

Make no mistake, the Sierra Club is not completely opposed to natural gas drilling, said Dr. David Byman of Clarks Summit, a biology professor at Penn State Worthington Scranton Campus who serves as chairman of the club’s Political Action Fund. “We feel that natural gas extraction is an important step toward energy independence,” said Byman. “What we require is industry-best practices. We don’t see that.”

That lack of best practices has the Sierra Club concerned about natural gas drilling in state forest lands. That drilling, said Byman, could lead to several environmental implications, including the pollution of surface and ground water. Furthermore, Byman said that the addition of new roads to drilling areas, as well as the four-acre drill pads which the process requires, could lead to the endangerment or even extinction of key Pennsylvania wildlife. “Many species require contiguous forest lands in order to survive,” said Byman. He added that these species include coyotes, otters and many birds native to Pennsylvania.

Drilling in state forest lands could also impact the multi-million dollar Pennsylvania tourism industry by affecting recreational values, Byman said. “It could reduce the natural attractions that we are used to in our state forest lands,” attractions that include activities such as hiking, bird watching and cross-country skiing, Byman added.

Jeff Schmidt, director of the Pennsylvania Sierra Club, sent in January a press release stating the club’s position on the leasing of state forest land, as well 600,000 acres of state forest land, which have been opened to drilling. That press release urged Pennsylvania lawmakers to restore funding to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), two state agencies which are integral in the administration of state lands. “The budget ax fell unfairly on the two agencies which manage the gas exploration process,” according to Schmidt.

Both agencies experienced numerous staff cuts as a result of the state budget passed last year.

Byman said the Sierra Club feels a step in the right direction would be the much discussed, but never passed, extraction tax which would help raise money and enable the state to hire more regulatory workers for the DEP and DCNR, an issue which he called largely partisan. “The Republican Party, which has majority control over the state legislature, has become a no-tax party,” said Byman. “They don’t want to add any new taxes, including an extraction tax on the natural gas industry.” Governor Ed Rendell’s severance tax proposal died during last year’s budget negotiations.

Byman pointed out that Pennsylvania is the only state associated with natural gas drilling that does not have an extraction or severance tax. “The concern is that a tax will cause (natural gas) companies to leave Pennsylvania,” he said. “There’s no way they are leaving. There’s too much money to be made.”

Those opposed to extraction taxes have said that the monies accrued from state forest land leases will help the state hire more regulatory workers. Byman said that the Sierra Club feels this is unacceptable. “We are sacrificing state forest land for something that could have been accomplished with an extraction tax,” he said.

The solution, said Byman, lies in Pennsylvania residents themselves. “When the residents get up in arms and start pressuring their legislative body for an extraction tax, then maybe something can be done.”