Posts Tagged ‘Bradford Co.’

Marcellus producers express commitment to working with lawmakers on comprehensive tax, regulatory and legislative plan for the future

CANONSBURG, Pa. – Earlier today, Gov. Ed Rendell signed a budget plan for 2010-2011 that recognizes the critical contributions that natural gas producers are making in Pennsylvania. The new budget, the product of months of hard work by members of the General Assembly, does not include new taxes on Marcellus Shale employers – but does include a commitment by our elected leaders to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of how best to seize on the opportunities of the Marcellus in the future, and do so in a manner that benefits all Pennsylvanians.

Subsequent to the governor’s signing today, Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) president and executive director Kathryn Klaber issued the following statement in strong support of the plan:

“Today’s announcement represents a positive step forward. The MSC has said from the start that it was going to take more than hard work and favorable geology to leverage the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the Marcellus into jobs, revenue and long-term energy affordability for all Pennsylvanians.

“To do this, and do it right, we need an updated and modernized regulatory and legislative framework, and a fair tax strategy that keeps our state ahead of the curve in attracting the investment needed to bring these resources to the surface. Today, Pennsylvania announced its intention to compete for these opportunities. And we are pleased to have played a role in working with the legislature to get this process started on the right path.

“MSC members will continue to be key participants in this iterative, ongoing process, working alongside the General Assembly, the Administration and stakeholders across the Commonwealth to put our state in the best possible position to seize on the extraordinary opportunities of the Marcellus. And when it comes to that objective, there’s nothing more important than having a tax, regulatory and legislative framework in place that’s collaborative in its approach, and comprehensive in its design. Today’s agreement moves us one step closer toward the realization of such a plan.”

NOTE: As reported last week in the Towanda Daily Review, Bradford County currently ranks among the top job-producing counties in the state – a surge in employment that’s directly tied to the responsible development of the Marcellus Shale in the area. All told, Bradford Co. added more than 2,000 workers to the job rolls over the past 12 months, even as more than 60 other counties in Pennsylvania experienced a loss in jobs over that time.

Copyright: Marcelluscoalition.org

By ANDREW MAYKUTH The Philadelphia Inquirer

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources signed a $6.15 million agreement Monday with Chesapeake Energy Corp., giving the company the right to drill the Marcellus Shale under a seven-mile stretch of the Susquehanna River in Bradford County.

Under the lease, which applies to 1,500 acres of river between Towanda and the Wyoming County line, Chesapeake is permitted to access the shale with wells drilled on either side of the river. No well bores will penetrate the river itself.

Horizontal-drilling technology makes drilling for gas beneath the waterway feasible. With wells that reach laterally for thousands of feet, operators can capture gas under a large area from a remote location.

The state Department of Environmental Protection says that under-river gas exploration poses no more risk than any of the 1,400 other wells drilled into the Marcellus formation, which is a mile below the surface. The lease is separate from the state’s offering in January of 32,000 acres of state forests, which generated $128.5 million to help close the state budget gap.

The $6.15 million raised by the Susquehanna River lease will help keep open 24 state parks that had been threatened with closure because of the budget crisis, said Christina Novak, DCNR spokeswoman.

DCNR’s Susquehanna River lease may conjure memories of the 1959 Knox Mine disaster in the Port Griffith section of Jenkins Township, when the Susquehanna broke through a coal mine that was dug just below the river bottom. A dozen miners died in the flood.

Geologists say subsidence is not an issue with gas exploration. The well bores are only a few inches in diameter.

Copyright: Times Leader