TimesLeader.com

Drilling expansion stirs environmental fears

At issue is whether the pursuit of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale is safe.

By Rory Sweeney rsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

As the state opens more publicly owned acreage to gas drilling to fill a budget gap, environmental advocates are calling for the state to prove the potential drilling won’t have adverse effects.

“The burden of proof should be on the state that this not going to negatively impact our environment and potentially other uses of our state forests,” said Erika Staaf, a clean-water advocate for PennEnvironment. “We just don’t know. That’s why we need that assessment to be done. (Wilderness tourism) is a big enough part of our economy and (pristine forestland) is a big enough part of our history that we should be exploring this before we’re rushing to drill in these areas.”

The proof, she felt, should come in the form of an assessment made through a combination of various state agencies that oversee economic, environmental, recreation and other issues.

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources announced on Monday that it would open nearly 32,000 acres of additional state forest land to leasing in an attempt to create $60 million in revenue. The six tracts are in the Elk, Moshannon, Sproul, Susquehannock and Tioga state forests in Cameron, Clearfield, Clinton, Potter and Tioga counties.

Staaf questioned why public comment wasn’t sought on the leasing plan and what the impact would be “in potentially some of our most pristine areas.”

Mary Felley, the executive director of the Countryside Conservancy in La Plume, wished the gap had been filled with a severance tax on the gas produced, instead. “If you’re seeing roads in what was a roadless area, it’s not a wilderness experience,” she said. “Roads and pipelines, they fragment habitat.”

Stephen Rhoads, president of the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Association, hailed the decision as the only option for the cash-strapped commonwealth. “There’s an opportunity here in leasing lands to get some significant money into the general fund,” he said. “I think it’s positive. The land they’ve chosen appears to be in the main fairway for the Marcellus at this time, so it would appear to be a good candidate for leasing, but the devil’s in the details.”

He also argued that so little gas is currently being produced that a tax would create an insignificant amount of revenue.

Drillers from Texas and Oklahoma have been pouring money into the state to lease land that they predict resides on the Marcellus Shale, a ribbon of gas-laden rock about a mile underground. The development, however, includes surface disturbances such as roads and drilling infrastructure, while also threatening environmental concerns, such as water contamination.