1st District Foes Differ on Marcellus Regulation

Charleston Gazette
4 October 2010
By The Associated Press

WHEELING, W.Va. -- The 1st District candidates for the House of Representatives have different views on how to best regulate what is fast becoming a key part of the region's economy: Marcellus shale natural gas drilling.

Democrat Mike Oliverio told The Intelligencer of Wheeling the federal government should take the lead on protecting groundwater from pollution, while Republican David McKinley said regulation is best left to the states.

Drilling companies must use horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques to free the gas from the shale that underlies West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. There is growing concern about possible pollution.

McKinley, who owns a business in Wheeling, said too many federal restrictions are being aimed at West Virginia's mining and chemical industries already.

Tapping the Marcellus reserves supports American energy independence, he said.

"With direction from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the respected scientific research of the Ground Water Protection Council," he argued, "states can best carry out their regulatory role in the natural gas industry."

Oliverio, a state senator from Monongalia County, called Marcellus gas "the new coal" and said it creates both opportunity and challenges.

The state should have a role in protecting public health, Oliverio said, but some matters are better addressed by Congress.

"We have to have a system of bonding where companies are held responsible for roads and held responsible for replacing them," he said. "The federal role should be in inspection of the roadways and making certain there is no contamination of groundwater."