Local Commentary

Commentary

STATE REP. Jim Christiana would like us to believe that the state’s burgeoning natural gas industry will safeguard our health and well-being as it creates tremendous economic prosperity for the commonwealth’s residents, but only if the federal government keeps its meddling hands out of Pennsylvania’s natural gas business (commentary, Feb. 8).

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Pennsylvania’s current regulations governing natural gas extraction leave much to be desired.

Rep. Christiana’s argument, however, might contain as much gas as the famed Marcellus shale.

Rep. Christiana fears that Marcellus shale gas extraction could be doomed if the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act, which was sponsored by U.S. Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr., D-Scranton, and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., becomes law. To argue his case, Christiana offers several “facts,” which are unfortunately laden with inconsistencies and misrepresentations.

Consider, for example, his claim that the state Department of Environmental Protection and the gas industry “have been very effective in protecting drinking water aquifers from contamination attributable to hydraulic fracturing for many years,” a claim that he makes after stating that gas development in the state has been under way for only two years.

He further claims that the Marcellus shale contains a 100-year supply of natural gas. While that might be true, the recoverable amount is far less. According to Terry Engelder, geosciences professor at Penn State University, the amount of Marcellus gas that is actually recoverable could supply the entire United States for only two years. But since the extraction process cannot recover gas as fast as we use it, that two-year supply would require 20 years to recover. Engelder further states, contrary to Rep. Christiana’s claim, that the Marcellus gas “will not lead to energy independence.”

Rep. Christiana goes on to argue that “not a single case of drinking water contamination has ever been tied to the (hydraulic fracturing) process.” Again, that could be true since proving a link between drilling and water contamination has been difficult, partly due to an absence of requirements that drillers disclose the chemicals that they use in the hydraulic fracturing process. That would change under the FRAC Act.

The FRAC Act would restore the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory authority over natural gas extraction by removing a gas industry exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act. The exemption is known as the “Halliburton Loophole,” because the Halliburton Corp. developed the hydraulic fracturing technique. The company is one of the three largest manufacturers of hydraulic fracturing fluids, and former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney helped to create the loophole.

Along with closing the Halliburton Loophole, the FRAC Act also would force gas extraction companies to disclose the chemicals that they use in the fracking process.

Contrary to Rep. Christiana’s implication that the FRAC Act would give the federal government excessive authority over states, having such information would in fact allow states such as Pennsylvania to more easily regulate the industry. Moreover, if an accidental spill of fracking fluid were to occur, first responders and emergency room professionals could more easily treat those people who might fall ill, and environmental experts could more easily effect cleanup operations. Hence, the FRAC Act would create a nationwide uniform minimum level of protection, a level of protection that states could exceed if they choose to enact more stringent guidelines.

By creating such nationwide guidelines, the act actually could assist Pennsylvania in regulating the natural gas industry while protecting Pennsylvanians’ jobs in the industry by lessening the likelihood that gas companies would abandon operations in one state and relocate them to a state in which regulations are weak or nonexistent.

Pennsylvania’s current regulations governing natural gas extraction leave much to be desired. However, the state Legislature is working to correct those shortcomings. As lawmakers develop regulatory legislation, they would be wise to consider the full range of potential environmental hazards associated with natural gas extraction, including water, air and land pollution, wildlife habitat fragmentation and the potential hazards to human health, some of which have been associated with gas operations in other states.

Rep. Christiana was elected to serve Pennsylvania’s residents. However, he does us a great disservice by employing the same scare tactics that industries employ when they want to avoid regulation. The truth is that that the gas industry would prefer to not be regulated at all.

We need laws like the FRAC Act to safeguard Pennsylvanians’ health and well-being while protecting the environment so that we are not doomed to repeat the mistakes of our coal mining past. Sens. Casey and Schumer are to be applauded for acting in our best interests.

For a more thorough discussion of the potential hazards associated with natural gas extraction, go to www.gwvas.org and click on “Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling.”