Author Archive

Worker for subcontractor at Cabot site in Dimock Township was hit on head with a pipe.

The Associated Press

DIMOCK TWP. – A worker at a natural gas drilling site in Susquehanna County died Monday at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center after being hit on the head by a pipe.

The Luzerne County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as 41-year-old Gregory Walker. His death was ruled accidental. Coroner John Corcoran could not provide his hometown or any additional information.

Walker was working at a Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. drilling rig in Dimock Township, when he was hurt Monday. He was taken to a hospital in Montrose and then flown by helicopter to the hospital in Plains Township, where he died Monday. Cabot spokesman George Stark said Walker worked for a subcontractor.

Copyright: Times Leader

MARC LEVY Associated Press Writer

HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell says the cash-strapped state government is leasing more public forest land to a company that wants to drill for natural gas in the vast Marcellus Shale reserve.

As a result, Rendell said Tuesday he will support legislation to temporarily halt additional leasing of state forest land for gas drilling.

Rendell says Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has agreed to pay Pennsylvania $120 million for the right to drill on 33,000 acres in northcentral Pennsylvania.

The company owns the rights to surrounding tracts. The additional land is considered “disturbed” because it has been leased for shallow gas drilling in previous decades, although no drilling is actively occurring.

Still, a bill to halt new leasing of state forest land for drilling appears unlikely to pass the Senate.

Copyright: Times Leader

Official lays out efforts to protect environment

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

DALLAS TWP. – The man in charge of ensuring the oil and gas industry complies with environmental regulations in Pennsylvania spoke at a well-attended Back Mountain presentation on Tuesday, informing the public about protections in place and what is being done to improve public safety.

Scott R. Perry, director of the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Oil and Gas Management, provided an overview of how drilling into the Marcellus Shale formation differs from other forms of natural gas drilling and discussed the bureau’s current work and future plans to protect the environment.

Misericordia University President Michael MacDowell welcomed Perry to the school’s Lemmond Theater, and assistant professor Julie Kuhlken, who teaches environmental philosophy, moderated a question-and-answer session afterward.

Oil and gas drilling began in Pennsylvania in 1859, Perry said. But new technology that enables horizontal drilling into the 5,000- to 7,000-foot-deep Marcellus formation has brought to the state energy companies that have until recently focused their efforts in western states.

“One of the things we noticed is that people from Texas and Oklahoma aren’t really familiar with hills. Pennsylvania has them, and we also have rain, more so than Texas, and so there have been some struggles in developing these well sites,” Perry said.

Pennsylvania, he noted, is the only state that requires an approved erosion and sediment control plan before a drilling permit is issued.

In his computerized slide show, Perry showed a photo of an erosion-and-sediment control violation at a state drilling site. Controls on the main level were fine, but farther down a hill, a DEP inspector found “a bunch of hay bales” and “silt fence that’s not doing any good.”

“I asked the inspector who took this picture what he thought they were thinking. He said, ‘I think they were thinking I wasn’t going to walk down that hill,’ ” Perry said, eliciting laughter.

DEP forced the operator to put proper controls in place.

Perry noted the DEP hired 37 inspectors in 2009 and is hiring 68 more this year to nearly double the size of the inspection staff to 193. Three-fourths of those employees will oversee the oil and gas industry; higher permit fees pay for it all.

Perry said he believes there are adequate regulations in place to protect public health and safety and the environment, but he supports several provisions in proposed legislation, such as one that would increase bonding requirements for drilling companies.

Perry said DEP officials are “always evaluating” regulations, and when they’re inadequate “we’re strengthening them. … For example, we’re evaluating the permit requirements for air quality. … We’re not done with the evaluation and regulation process for this industry. They’re just getting started and so are we.”

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7311.

Copyright: Times Leader

Bill would have rollback taxes assessed only on land impacted by wellhead permanently.

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

Luzerne County Assessor’s Office Director Tony Alu still doesn’t know how Marcellus Shale development on land with “Clean and Green” designation will affect the land’s tax status.

“We don’t have a clear-cut plan yet. … I’m turning over every stone to get as much information as possible. We won’t be doing anything until I’m sure what our options are,” Alu said Monday.

Clean and Green is a program authorized by state law that allows land devoted to agricultural or forest use to be assessed at a value for that use rather than at fair market value.

The intent of the program, which is administered through county government, is to encourage property owners to retain their land in agricultural, open-space or forest-land use by providing real estate tax relief.

Property owners benefit through lower taxes as long as their land isn’t used for housing developments or other uses inconsistent with agricultural production, open-space or forest-land use.

If a property owner decided to use the land for a purpose inconsistent with the program, the landowner would have to pay “rollback taxes” – the difference between fair market value and use value of the land – for as many years as the property had been designated Clean and Green, up to a maximum of seven years.

Although it’s a state-authorized program, with maximum use values set annually for each county by the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Farmland Preservation, the bureau offers no guidance on how drilling for natural gas on a Clean and Green parcel would affect the tax status.

“The (state Farmland and Forest Land Assessment) Act is silent in that regard, so it’s left up to each individual county how to address it,” said bureau director Doug Wolfgang.

However, Wolfgang said, in March 2009, state Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, introduced a bill that would amend the act, allowing for natural gas drilling on Clean and Green land, with rollback taxes being assessed only on the portion of land that would be permanently impacted by a wellhead. State Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, was a co-sponsor of that bill.

Yaw represents Union and Sullivan counties and parts of Susquehanna, Bradford and Lycoming counties, which together boasted a total of about 200 natural gas wells by the end of last year.

The bill won Senate approval in February and is before the House for consideration.

Yaw has said the bill would provide counties across the state with “a consistent interpretation” to follow and would “help to prevent differing opinions on how many acres of roll-back taxes should be levied on landowners who have leased for natural gas development.”

He has said farmers and landowners need the bill to become law “so that there isn’t any confusion on how the Clean and Green Program operates.”

The bill also would exempt land with underground transmission or gathering lines from roll-back taxes and would allow for one lease for temporary pipe storage facilities for two years. Each property would have to be restored to its original use.

Regardless of whether the bill becomes law, Lake Township Supervisor Amy Salansky said neither she nor her husband, Paul, will have to pay rollback taxes on their Clean and Green land, on which EnCana Oil and Gas USA intends to drill a natural gas well in August. If county officials decide to assess rollback taxes, the lease with EnCana makes the energy company responsible for paying them.

Salansky noted neither she nor her husband own the mineral or gas rights to the land.

The couple bought the land after the owner died so they could farm it, but the owner had willed the mineral and gas rights to his nephew, who retained them in the sale.

The Salanskys are crop farmers, growing oats, corn and hay. They own and work more farmland nearby, Amy Salansky said.

Even if the entire 50-acre parcel is kicked out of the Clean and Green program, Salansky said she would reapply to have the parcel accepted back into the program, minus the 6 acres that would be used for the gas-drilling operations.

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7311.

Copyright: Times Leader

HARRISBURG – As a bill calling for a moratorium on leasing state forest land for natural gas exploration languishes in the Senate, Gov. Ed Rendell announced today that the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources finalized a lease agreement with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for 32,896 acres of forest land in Centre, Wyoming and Bradford counties.

In a press release, Rendell said the “responsible natural gas lease agreement” will allow Pennsylvania to meet its need for revenue while fulfilling its obligation to protect Pennsylvania’s natural resources.

Under the agreement, Anadarko has paid the commonwealth $120 million to access 32,896 acres that are surrounded by tracts of land for which drilling companies already hold lease agreements. Because these newly leased tracts can largely be accessed by gas operations on the adjacent tracts, the amount of new state forest surface area that must be disturbed is minimized, according to the press release.

Other than the agreement, the commonwealth will not have to make any additional state forest land available to reach its revenue goals for natural gas drilling in the 2010-11 fiscal year.

“This is a responsible approach that meets our revenue targets and limits the impact of additional natural gas exploration in our state forests,” Rendell said.

“We do not need to expand our drilling footprint in state forest lands to meet our revenue goals, because these parcels are already surrounded by other leased acres,” Governor Rendell said. “They also are within areas leased in the 1970s and 1980s by DCNR, but not all the acreage was drilled because technology wasn’t available to exploit Marcellus Shale deposits.

“In order to develop the acreage, DCNR and Anadarko have agreed to certain provisions to make certain there is minimal impact on the surface. Horizontal drilling technologies allow Anadarko access to most of this acreage from already disturbed areas on their adjoining leased lands.”

The newly leased acres cover 11 tracts in the Moshannon, Sproul and Tiadaghton state forests where Centre, Clinton and Lycoming counties meet.

For 27,185 acres on 10 tracts, Anadarko agreed to pay $4,000 per acre, consistent with the average price paid during DCNR’s January 2010 competitive lease sale. For the remaining 5,711 acres on one tract, the commonwealth will receive $2,000 per acre because the geology underneath is not as promising for gas production.

The lease of the 11 tracts totals about $120 million. DCNR’s January 2010 lease sale generated $128 million-$60 million of that went toward this year’s General Fund budget and the additional $68 million will be applied to a target of $180 million to help balance state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2010.

“With this agreement negotiated and the money in the bank, we can safely be on board with the moratorium which passed the House and is now in the Senate. If the Senate passes the legislation and it comes to my desk, I will sign it,” Rendell said.

Read more in The Times Leader on Wednesday.

Copyright: Times Leader

DIMOCK, Pa. (AP) — A worker at a natural gas drilling site in northeastern Pennsylvania has died after being hit on the head by a pipe.

The Luzerne County coroner’s office identified the victim as 41-year-old Gregory Walker.

Walker was working at a Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. drilling rig in Dimock Township, Susquehanna County when he was hurt Monday morning. He was taken to a hospital in Montrose and then flown by helicopter to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Hospital in Wilkes-Barre, where he died Monday afternoon.

The coroner’s office ruled the death as accidental.

Cabot spokesman George Stark says Walker worked for a subcontractor.

Copyright: Times Leader

People are wondering just what EnCana will bring to Marcellus Shale drilling.

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

Edward Buda had been dealing with representatives of Whitmar Exploration Co. for about two years since he, his late brother and sister-in-law negotiated a lease with the company for natural gas drilling on their Fairmount Township property.

Now, there’s a new player in the mix, since Whitmar announced a partnership with EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. in November for a joint venture in drilling and development of the Marcellus Shale in Luzerne and Columbia counties.

Like others in the Back Mountain, Sweet Valley and Red Rock areas, Buda is a bit wary of the Denver-based energy company.

“We did business with Whitmar. How (Encana is) going to be, I don’t know. How they honor the contract, that’s to be seen. I still don’t know much about them,” said Buda, 75, who lives in Ross Township.

Buda’s brother Walter and Walter’s wife Eleanor signed a fairly simple three-page lease with Whitmar in February 2009, a month before Walter died. Eleanor passed away in November, Edward said, and he became the new lease holder just as EnCana came into the picture.

Now, EnCana wants to lease Edward’s property in Ross Township, but he isn’t too impressed with the $1,000-per-acre offer. And the 16-page lease proposal that has undergone many revisions is written in legalese, he said.

“They wanted to put a drill pad on my property (in Ross Township). I said I want to wait and see what happens in Red Rock (section of Fairmount Township). Everybody’s waiting to see whether it’s going to be a gusher or a fiasco in Red Rock,” Edward said.

Wendy Wiedenbeck, a public and community relations adviser for EnCana, said the well on Buda’s property and a second well planned for a Lake Township property owned by township Supervisor Amy Salansky and her husband, Paul, are exploratory ventures.

If those wells produce an acceptable amount of natural gas, EnCana will develop a plan for expanded drilling operations in the area, Wiedenbeck said. Drilling is expected to begin in July on Buda’s property and gas production should start by October. Clearing of an access road to the site began last week.

Company has won honors

For the past few months, Wiedenbeck has been the face of EnCana locally, arranging and attending meetings with people who live or own property within a mile of the planned drilling sites as well as attending meetings with local groups concerned about drilling activity in their communities.

A self-described “Army wife” with two sons – one in first grade, the other a senior in college, Wiedenbeck has lived in Colorado since 1989 and has been working in community/public relations since the early 1990s. She’s been with EnCana for five years.

“They’re a cultural fit for me. I believe they truly believe in responsible development,” Wiedenbeck said of her employer.

To prove her point, Wiedenbeck provided a long list of awards EnCana has received over the past few years. Just a few include:

• The 2008 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Natural Gas STAR award, recognizing outstanding efforts to measure, report and reduce methane emissions;

• Interstate Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Chairman’s Stewardship Awards, recognizing exemplary efforts in environmental stewardship by the oil and natural gas industry;

• The 2009 Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Award for Courtesy Matters program in the Denver-Julesburg Basin surrounding Erie, Colo.

“Courtesy Matters” is EnCana’s community engagement program that brings EnCana staff and third-party contractors together with the community to discuss the nuisance issues associated with company operations,” Wiedenbeck said.

“Courtesy Matters creates a working environment where open and ongoing dialog are paramount. Discussions generally include concerns with traffic, noise and dust associated with our operations,” she said.

Community investment vital

Marty Ostholthoff, community development director for Erie, Colo., said in a teleconference that EnCana is one of four major energy companies drilling in the Denver-Julesburg Basin, the others being Noble Energy Inc., Kerr-McGee Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

Fred Diehl, assistant town administrator in Erie, said he would be remiss if he didn’t point out “how far ahead of the other operators EnCana is” when it comes to community investment.

Diehl said he mentioned to Wiedenbeck that officials wanted to install solar panels on a new community center being built, and EnCana donated $250,000 to make that happen. A month ago, the company donated $175,000 for eco-friendly lighting at community ball fields.

“It’s not a requirement that they make notifications to our residents (about drilling activities or problems), but they do. It’s not a requirement that they make financial investments into our community, but they do,” Ostholthoff said.

Of course, there’s a downside to the presence of the drilling companies in the suburban area, which lies in one of the largest natural gas fields in the country, Diehl said.

“These things are still loud,” he said of the drilling rigs. “People come into our offices complaining, ‘We can’t sleep.’ But we worked with the operators to put up hay bales and cargo trailers to minimize the noise. The only good thing is, (the drilling is) temporary.”

As far as addressing concerns of residents, Diehl said all of the companies seem willing and responsive. “If they’re not, one of them can give the whole industry a black eye,” Diehl said.

Wiedenbeck said EnCana will have a toll-free number posted at its drilling sites that people can call to report concerns. Callers who choose the Pennsylvania prompt will be automatically directed to her office or cell phone. An operations phone number also will be established, she said.

And while EnCana will hire someone locally to help with community relations efforts, Wiedenbeck said she will continue to be “that face” for the community. She has spent about half her time in Pennsylvania since EnCana partnered with Whitmar, sometimes bringing her youngest son, Sammy, on trips here.

“He loves Pennsylvania,” she said.

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7311.

Copyright: Times Leader

EnCana’s hydraulic fracturing has never impacted a water well, spokeswoman says.

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

Wendy Wiedenbeck acknowledges that Luzerne County residents might be troubled by the fact that EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. paid $1.5 million in fines over the past four years.

But Wiedenbeck, the community and public relations adviser for the natural gas company that will begin drilling in the Back Mountain and Red Rock areas this summer, said the company is “committed to responsible development” and today is “a leader in environmental stewardship.”

According to data Wiedenbeck provided at the request of The Times Leader, EnCana was assessed $542,000 on nine fines in 2006; $663,000 on 19 fines in 2007; $306,000 on 19 fines in 2008; and $3,000 on 10 fines in 2009. The data for 2009 is subject to change, she said.

Some Back Mountain residents and elected officials have expressed concern that drilling activities could contaminate water private water wells or the Huntsville and Ceasetown reservoirs.

Wiedenbeck said EnCana has never had an instance in which the company’s hydraulic fracturing process affected a water well.

“In fact, there has never been an instance where the fracking process impacted water wells. We have, however, experienced operational failures, which resulted in regulatory violations and fines. These range from issues with lost circulation during cementing, which resulted in permanent changes to cementing protocols in 2004, to deficiencies with location signage,” she said.

Encana’s violations have ranged a wide gamut, from a $1,000 fine after a contractor’s truck broke down on a mountain road during a restricted time period, preventing parents from picking up their children from a bus stop in 2002, to the largest fine issued by the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission for allowing gas to migrate into a creek.

The commission fined EnCana a record $371,000 after one of the company’s wells leaked into West Divide Creek in Western Colorado in 2004. The seep was found to contain the carcinogenic chemical benzene.

Wiedenbeck said that fine is included in the total assessed in 2006, and the seep resulted from a failure in cementing procedures at the well.

“We made a mistake. We moved too fast. But we worked with the commission to modify and improve the cementing procedure in Colorado. Since then, we’ve drilled hundreds of wells in Colorado without incident. But (the Divide Creek incident) is part of the reason why we’re taking a very thoughtful and measured approach to our operations in Luzerne County,” she said.

Wiedenbeck also pointed to a vast improvement in EnCana’s record related to spills.

In 2009, EnCana had 75 reportable spills totaling 4,036 barrels of material, a volume reduction of 38 percent from 2008 and 87 less than in 2007, she said.

Dave Neslin, executive director of the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, said commission staff views EnCana as “a responsible operator.”

Neslin said EnCana’s compliance has improved since the Divide Creek seep, and the company implemented an extensive remediation plan. “Much of the impact has been remediated,” he said.

Neslin said EnCana is one of the largest operators in the state, responsible for nearly 10 percent of the approximately 40,000 active oil and gas wells in the state.

He noted that the company was the first to voluntarily establish a wildlife mitigation program encompassing 44,000 acres to ensure wildlife populations will be protected, and that EnCana won a commission award last year for the company’s Courtesy Matters community outreach program.

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7311.

Copyright: Times Leader

The pursuit of natural gas on county land could endanger area water supplies, one leader says.

RALPH NARDONE Times Leader Correspondent

Opposition to local natural gas drilling continues to boil over. On Saturday, about 100 people gathered to voice their concerns about possible drilling at Moon Lake Park. The 650-acre park had been kicked around as a site with the blessing of county officials who were seeking a way to cash in on the local boom.

Organizers originally intended to conduct a nine hour “rally” there that included food vendors, family activities, music and more but could only meet briefly due to a lack of proper insurance coverage.

Janine Dymond from Harding, member of the Friends of Moon Lake and bike trail enthusiast said the county required by policy $1 million worth of insurance coverage for any large scale event on county property. She said when the group learned about the insurance they decided the estimated $1,300 in premiums to be cost prohibitive.

Still, they gathered to support each other, displaying signs of protest for the prospective drilling plans, and spit vitriol at Commissioner Steve Urban who supports gas drilling there.

Dymond said she personally gathered about 600 signatures on an anti-drilling petition.

“It’s hard not to get involved,” Dymond said.

Dr. Tom Jiunta from Lehman Township, one of the founders of the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, said the environmental cons of park drilling far outweigh the economic pros. Because of its proximity to the Ceasetown Dam, the fact most residences use well water and the recent issues concerning ground water pollution, drilling is too risky.

In addition, the amount of diesel fuel exhaust from the truck traffic and drilling machinery belched from a 24-hour industrial project is significant, he said. He spoke to people who have respiratory issues they attribute to drilling.

He said the gas industry often misleads about the actual economic value of drilling to Northeastern Pennsylvania. Most of the jobs produced will be for workers who come from out-of-state, he said. The gas taken locally will be sold in the global market to countries such as China, he added.

When talking about Moon Lake, Jiunta said the beauty of the park should be preserved as well as the health and safety of the residents.

Jean Whitesell from Hunlock Creek and Kathy Hopkins from Ashley, co-workers who visit Moon Lake on a regular basis, expressed their fears the park will become a drilling site. They were fishing with their children.

Whitesell said she was “upset” when she first heard about the drilling plans.

She said she is not opposed to gas drilling as long as it is done where it won’t “hurt anybody.”

Dymond said the Friends of Moon Lake thanked the Sierra Club for its help in fighting the drilling project. She said the group intends to organize a rally sometime in the near future.

Copyright: Times Leader

Rep. Karen Boback (R-Columbia/Luzerne/Wyoming) announced recently that she has introduced legislation to direct the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee (LBFC) to perform a comprehensive study of the Commonwealth’s current laws and regulations governing the development of natural gas within the Marcellus Shale formation.

“As the unprecedented interest in this natural resource continues to grow, it is important for us to take stock of the laws and regulations we have on the books to ensure that we are effectively protecting our citizens and our environment from the potentially harmful impact of natural gas drilling,” said Boback. “If the study uncovers disparities or weaknesses in our laws and regulations, the Legislature can promptly move to address them.”

House Resolution 729 would direct the LBFC to conduct the study and report its findings, along with recommendations for updates, to the General Assembly. The resolution has been referred to the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

Boback noted that the Marcellus Shale region covers 60 percent of the Commonwealth and the drilling that is taking place into the shale is deeper than was possible when many of the laws regulating the industry were written.

“There is a lot at stake for Pennsylvania when it comes to the Marcellus Shale,” said Boback. “It is important that we take a reasoned and informed approach to addressing the issue of drilling. Responsible drilling must be our foremost concern.”

Copyright: Times Leader