Gas Well Foes Vow to Fight Rendell
Lawmakers line up against governor's forest leasing plan
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
22 February 2010
By Don Hopey
A caucus of 37 "green dog" and "hunting dog" legislators is barking mad
about a Rendell administration budget proposal that would seek to raise
$180 million by leasing more state forest land for Marcellus shale gas
well drilling.
State Rep. David Levdansky, D-Forward, said the pro-environment and
pro-hunting Democratic legislators in the conservation caucus are
strongly opposed to leasing what could be another 50,000 to 80,000
acres of the state's forests for deep gas drilling beginning in July
and will not compromise that position in upcoming budget negotiations.
"We're doing everything we can to stop this," said Mr. Levdansky, a
member of the House Game and Fisheries Committee and chairman of the
House Finance Committee. "To me this could be the worst environmental
catastrophe I've seen in my 25 years in Harrisburg."
In a Feb. 3 letter to the governor, the legislators called for a
moratorium on state forest land leasing until the "long-term
environmental, fiscal, economic and social impacts" are studied and
reviewed and requested a meeting with the governor on the issue.
According to the legislator's letter, at least 100 wells already are
slated for drilling in state forests this year. And another 1,500 well
pads containing 5,000 to 6,000 wells could be drilled in the next 10
years on the forest land leased in the last two years.
Mr. Levdansky said the proposed widespread drilling will fragment the
forests with a checkerboard of drilling pads, pipelines and service
roads, make the forests more susceptible to disease, damage endangered
species habitat and allow invasive species to enter the state's forest
ecosystems.
"Our state forests are the envy of the other states in the nation, a
wonderful system, and now the governor wants to open them up for a
short-term revenue gain. It's a travesty," he said.
Last year the state leased almost 32,000 acres of state forest land for
gas well drilling, raising $60 million for the general fund and $68
million to the oil and gas fund. In 2008 the state broke a five-year
moratorium on forest land leasing and auctioned off 74,000 acres of
drilling rights for $166 million.
All told, a total of 660,000 acres of the state's 2.1 million-acre
forest system already have already been leased for both shallow and
deep gas and oil drilling.
Gary Tuma, a spokesman for the governor, said the plan to lease more
state forest land was part of a two-year deal on gas rights leasing
agreed to by the state's Republican and Democratic legislative caucuses
last fall to generate needed general fund revenues. He said the
governor agreed to it after the Legislature failed to support proposals
to increase the personal income tax and a severance tax on natural gas
from the Marcellus shale.
"The governor wasn't excited about leasing the state forest land," Mr.
Tuma said. "But the decision has been made absent some other
alternative revenue source."
But Mr. Levdansky said that, although the governor asked for a second
year of forest leases in last year's budget negotiations, House
Democratic leaders did not agree to that.
"If the governor isn't excited about leasing more forest land he
shouldn't do it," Mr. Levdansky said. "He has other options. Let's get
serious about putting a gas severance tax in place, that according to
the governor could bring in $160 million to $180 million next year."
The legislators' letter praised the governor for once again supporting
a severance tax on natural gas pumped from the Marcellus shale and said
they would "fervently support" enactment of that tax. Mr. Rendell
originally supported such a tax early last year but dropped his support
during budget negotiations in the fall. Thirty-nine other states impose
such a tax.
About 1.5 million acres of the 2.1 million acres of state forests are
in the "Marcellus Zone" above the 5,000- to 8,000-foot-deep shale layer
that underlies three-quarters of the state and could hold as much as
363 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to supply U.S. gas
demands for 10 to 15 years.
Last month, Trout Unlimited, a national fishing and conservation
organization, criticized Pennsylvania for last year's lease of 32,000
acres, calling it a "failure to protect public resources" that could
have a detrimental effect on fish and wildlife habitat.
"We have already seen detrimental effects to water quality on our state
forests and find this unacceptable," David Rothrock, president of the
Pennsylvania Council of TU, said in a press release last month. "The
state budget should not be balanced at the expense of hunters and
anglers."
Statewide, approximately 2,500 Marcellus shale gas well drilling
permits were issued from 2007 through 2009 by the state Department of
Environmental Protection, which projects another 5,000 permits will be
issued this year.
Developing the gas could bring billions of dollars into the state and
create thousands of jobs, according to the gas industry and some state
officials.
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.