Posts Tagged ‘Texas’

By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer)
Published: August 19, 2010

Drilling is close to wrapping up at Luzerne County’s first natural gas well, paving the way for Encana Oil & Gas USA Inc. to start on the second.

In a recent release, Encana reported drilling operations at the Buda natural gas well site on Route 118 behind the Ricketts Glen Hotel in Fairmount Township are expected to be finished within the next two weeks. Construction of the drilling pad at the Salansky site on Zosh Road in Lake Township is also “nearing completion and preparation for active drilling operations will start soon,” the company stated.

However, Encana stated that the completion process, which includes hydraulic fracturing, has not yet been scheduled for either site.

The wells will take approximately 6 millions of gallons of water for hydraulic fracturing.

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission, which regulates large water withdrawals, has granted Encana permits to take water from three sources shared with other natural gas drilling companies and three municipal sources.

The municipal sources are Dushore Water Authority in Sullivan County, Towanda Municipal Authority in Bradford County and Tunkhannock Borough Municipal Authority, Wyoming County.

Encana has SRBC permission to take up to 499,000 gallons per day from a Citrus Energy source at the North Branch Susquehanna River in Washington Township, Wyoming County; up to 999,000 gallons per day from the Mountain Energy Services Inc. source at Tunkhannock Creek in Tunkhannock Township; and up to 240,000 gallons per day from the Bowmans Creek withdrawal site of Randy Wiernusz in Eaton Township.

Withdrawals from the Citrus Energy site are currently on hold due to low stream levels, triggering what the commission calls “pass-by restrictions,” according to Susquehanna River Basin Commission Spokeswoman Susan Obleski.

Citrus Energy and Mountain Energy were also under the restrictions, but Obleski said those have been lifted.

“The other two are available, but I understand the stream flows are dropping quickly there again, so it could be only a matter of time that they’re put on hold again,” she said.

Encana also announced that in the event of a natural gas well emergency, the company is partnering with Cudd Well Control as a first responder.

Cudd, which is based in Houston, Texas, has opened a branch on Route 414 in Canton, Bradford County – the first well-control specialists to start operating in Pennsylvania. Previously, specialists from Texas had to be flown in to handle natural gas well emergencies.

“We’ve worked with Encana for a long time in Texas and look forward to partnering here in Pennsylvania,” Troy White, Cudd’s director of business development, said in a prepared statement. “Our specialized team is already familiar with Encana’s safety practices, so we expect a smooth transition to first response planning with Encana in the Marcellus.”

eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072

View article here.

Copyright:  Citizens Voice

Gas drilling incident in western Pennsylvania linked to firm’s corner-cutting tactics.

From staff and wire reports

HARRISBURG – Rig workers’ inexcusable failure to use a second set of pressure-control devices while preparing to connect a natural gas well to a pipeline led to the well’s blowout in western Pennsylvania last month, a consultant’s report said Tuesday.

State regulators, who hired the consultant, quickly ordered all drilling operators to adhere to a set of safety standards designed to prevent another such incident.

“I don’t know any company that would cut corners like this on this kind of well,” said consultant John Vittitow, a Texas-based petroleum engineer.

The company, Houston-based EOG Resources Inc., has used this same tactic on other wells in Pennsylvania, Vittitow said.

“I don’t think they’ll use it again,” he added.

Meanwhile, state Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger warned that another such incident could mean the end of EOG’s business in Pennsylvania, and insisted state regulations don’t allow EOG’s tactics.

EOG and its contractor, C.C. Forbes Co. of Texas, were given maximum fines of more than $400,000 combined and ordered to take corrective actions, but were allowed to resume all activities in Pennsylvania on Tuesday after a 40-day suspension of well-finishing work.

EOG operates nearly 300 wells in Pennsylvania.

The blowout happened late June 3 on the grounds of a hunting club in Clearfield County where EOG is drilling a number of wells.

For 16 hours, explosive gas and briny wastewater shot into the air before specialists brought it under control.

Hanger insisted Tuesday that existing regulations do not allow EOG’s tactics because they require companies to obey accepted industry safety standards.

Most companies obey those, he said, but a letter sent Tuesday would lay out in detail what is expected of them.

Gary L. Smith, EOG’s vice president and general manager in Pittsburgh stated in an e-mailed that company officials “sincerely regret that the well-control issue took place.”

Since that time, Smith said, EOG has worked with the DEP to resolve all issues, will implement the new operational procedures outlined in the letter to gas well operators and looks forward to resuming activities.

Marcellus Shale Coalition president and executive director Kathryn Klaber said the new regulations DEP put forth “have already been incorporated by many of our members as part of their regular wellsite operations.”

State Rep. Phyllis Mundy, who is leading the charge for a moratorium on gas drilling in the state, said the $400,000 in fines and 40-day suspension “seems like a pittance … for what was clearly an inexcusable lack of proper procedure to care for the environment and their workers.”

Mundy, D-Kingston, said the incident “reinforces the need to hit the pause button with a moratorium. With this kind of activity, there will always be accidents.

“But with proper laws, regulations, best practice guidelines and inspections in place, we could prevent many of them and be much better prepared to deal with them when they do occur. Those things are not in place at this time, yet we continue to issue new permits. We are simply not prepared to either prevent or react to these incidents.”

Hanger said his agency would redouble its inspection activity with more emphasis on well-finishing work.

Copyright: Times Leader

WILKES-BARRE – Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dan Onorato said Thursday he doesn’t support a moratorium on drilling in the Marcellus Shale region, but he does want to see the gas industry grow in “a responsible way.”

“I will grant permits,” Onorato said. “But I want these companies to hire Pennsylvanians. I don’t want to see a bunch of Oklahoma and Texas license plates here.”

Onorato visited the Scranton Chamber of Commerce to speak to members and young professionals of POWER Scranton to discuss the opportunities for economic growth in Scranton.

“Northeast Pennsylvania is in a unique situation to benefit from great economic growth,” he said. “The combination of location, resources and infrastructure could lead to an economic boon for the region’s economy.”

Onorato is opposed by Republican Tom Corbett, who has served two terms at the state’s attorney general.

Onorato knows Northeastern Pennsylvania – he is married to the former Shelly Ziegler of Mountain Top. Onorato said he has traveled to the region regularly for the past 20 years to visit his in-laws, Bill and Sue Ziegler.

“The northeast region is very important to me,” he said. “I will be campaigning here a lot over the next 17 weeks. I see a lot of similarities between here and my home area of Pittsburgh.”

Onorato, 49, has served as the Allegheny County executive for seven years. He boasts that when the next budget is passed in October, it will mark 10 straight years of no tax increase in the county.

“I’ve run the second largest county in the Commonwealth,” Onorato said. “We’ve downsized government – going from 10 row offices to four and we consolidated five 911 centers to one. Those two moves alone saved taxpayers $7 million per year.”

Onorato, the father of three teenagers, said he is optimistic about the governor’s race. He said he doesn’t believe a poll released last week that showed Corbett ahead by 10 percentage points.

“The same people that did that poll also had McCain ahead of Obama in 2008,” He said. “All the polls I’ve seen show this race to be neck-and-neck. I know it will be a battle, but I believe I can win.”

Onorato said the northeast region’s proximity to New York and New Jersey makes it the perfect location to become the warehouse distribution center for the eastern part of the country.

“I see a lot of potential here,” he said.

The Democrat said he would seek to enact a severance tax on the Marcellus Shale drillers and he would use the revenue to fully fund the state Department of Environmental Protection. Onorato said DEP took a 28 percent budget cut last year and he wants to return the department to full capacity.

“If we’re going to allow drilling, then we need a department to watch over it and protect the water and the environment,” Onorato said.

Bill O’Boyle, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7218.

Copyright: Times Leader

by Laura Legere (staff writer)
Published: June 20, 2010

One natural gas well has been drilled into the Marcellus Shale in Lackawanna County, but much more development is on the county’s doorstep.

Already more than an eighth of the county’s land has been leased to companies planning to drill in the Marcellus Shale, according to deeds recorded with the county.

The total land leased – about 38,000 acres – amounts to an area roughly twice the size of Scranton.

Those leases carry a soft deadline for drilling: Many of them have a primary term of five or seven years, which means the companies have to make some progress to develop the gas within that time or renegotiate to extend the agreement and risk losing the lease to a competitor.

Because the vast majority of the leases in the county – 816 of them – were recorded in 2008, the incentive for developing the gas is approaching.

The land rush has touched a vast area of the county. Land in 20 of Lackawanna’s 40 municipalities has been leased, with the largest concentration of leases in northern municipalities, including Scott, Benton and Greenfield townships, as well as areas of the Abingtons.

Many of the county’s most prominent farmers, including the Manning, Eckel, Roba and Pallman families, have signed leases.

Although much of the land has been leased outside of the population centers along the Lackawanna Valley, leased parcels are not strictly on farms or in rural areas.

Baptist Bible College leased 114 acres on its South Abington Twp. campus.

The Abington Hill Cemetery Association leased 120 acres in South Abington along the Morgan Highway.

Leases have also been agreed to on land near residential areas. For example, 38 acres have been leased along the 900 and 1000 blocks of Fairview Road in South Abington.

Property owners with leases include private individuals, but also churches, golf courses, businesses and community associations. The Greenfield Township Sewer Authority leased 7.3 acres; the Fleetville Volunteer Fire Company leased 65 acres in Benton.

The Newton Lake Association and the Associates at Chapman Lake, two community associations that own their namesake lakes and the area around them, both signed leases.

Religious organizations have also signed leases, including the Harmony Heart church camp in Scott, a 59-acre parcel in Scott owned by Parker Hill Community Church, the Evangelical Free Bible Church in North Abington Twp., and Community Bible Church in Greenfield.

Three national energy companies, Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Appalachia, Texas-based Exco Resources, and Texas-based Southwestern Energy, hold nearly all of the leases.

The amount of Lackawanna County land leased for gas development surprised even people who have followed the subject closely for years.

Lee Jamison, a leader of the multi-municipal Abington Council of Governments, which has hosted educational events and speakers regarding Marcellus Shale drilling since 2008, did not know the extent of the leasing or its reach to areas outside of the rural northwest of the county.

He said despite educational events and active gas drilling in nearby communities, Lackawanna County municipalities have to do more to follow changing legislation and precedent-setting court cases to prepare for the coming development.

“I still think there’s quite a lack of preparedness on the part of the local municipal officials,” he said. “Often times you get conflicting reports and confusing stories.”

Mr. Jamison, who recently lost in the Republican primary race for state representative in the 114th House District, made Marcellus Shale a central part of his platform.

“Over 90 percent of the people I’ve spoken to are in favor of developing the Marcellus resource,” he said, “but they want it done correctly. With that caveat.”

Mary Felley, the open space coordinator for the Countryside Conservancy and a representative of Dalton in the Scranton-Abingtons Planning Association, said residents and municipal officials are “aware that it’s coming but not quite here.”

“I come to my local borough meetings, and people ask what can we do as a borough to regulate this, and we don’t know,” she said.

Because of unsettled case law regarding what role municipalities can take in regulated drilling, “we’re not getting a whole lot of clear guidance on what we can and cannot do here,” she said. “That’s kind of scary.”

There has also been a dearth of local training specifically targeting municipal officials on preparing for gas development. Even if there were such meetings, “my concern is people may not attend those until there’s a lot more activity in the county,” she said.

“This is the way we’ve evolved apparently: you respond to urgent threats you can see. You don’t respond to slow, impending threats that are over the hill somewhere.”

Contact the writer: llegere@timesshamrock.com

View article here.

Copyright: The Scranton Times

He tells symposium Pa.’s “bureaucratic BS” is limiting operations.

PLAINS TWP. – To hear John Baen describe it, Pennsylvania is like an awkward, naive suitor, dithering over the details so much that it’s stumbling on the walk to the front door and turning off its hot date: natural gas drillers.

The industry has recently increased its complaints about what it sees as the state’s excessive regulatory procedures – or “bureaucratic BS,” as Baen put it on Wednesday – that are souring hopes to ramp up drilling in the potentially lucrative Marcellus Shale about a mile under much of northern and western Pennsylvania, among other states.

Keeping things green is important, the real-estate expert and University of North Texas professor said, but not as much as making some green. “I know you’re sensitive to your environment and all that, but it’s four acres (disturbed for drilling) out of 5,000” acres that are then producing gas, he said. “Would you allow a drilling rig in your back yard? … It depends on what they’re willing to pay you extra.”

Baen was one of three gas industry experts speaking at a Marcellus Shale Symposium hosted by the Joint Urban Studies Center at the Woodlands Inn & Resort. The center, a partnership of local colleges and universities, provides economic research for regional planning.

The experts were brought in to discuss their impressions from the proliferation of drilling in the Barnett Shale, a similar gas-filled rock formation in north Texas. Though concerns were addressed, such as potential environmental damage and likely workforce shortages, sanguine profiteering was emphasized repeatedly.

William Brackett, the managing editor of an influential Barnett Shale newsletter, noted the local job market and economy ballooned 50 percent in 2007 to 83,823 jobs and an $8.2-billion economic benefit. The same good fortune is befalling rural Pennsylvania farmers who were near destitute, he said. “All the sudden, they get a new barn and are able to send their kids to college.”

Of all the speakers, the most subdued in his support of the industry was Matt Sheppard, a director of corporate development for Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy, which sponsored the symposium. Though natural gas drilling has been in the state for decades, it has lain pretty low, he said. “This is not an industry that has done a great job of talking about things, explaining things,” he said. “We’re here for one reason, and that is that Americans are demanding cleaner energy right now. … And the truth is we’re not going to the other way.”

The presenters said the industry is looking for straightforward rules like in other states, which have standardized drilling manuals and few other regulatory hoops. But despite Baen’s dire predictions that drillers might pull up stakes, Sheppard assured his company was likely sticking it out.

“At Chesapeake, we’re big believers in organized development,” he said. “You’re not going to see a lot of companies come in here and drill one well and leave. … You invest this amount of money in a state, you’re going to be around a while.”

Copyright: Times Leader

Chief to offer “substantial” cash, says solicitor, who wants to see land involved, right-of-way agreement.

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

and Rebecca Briarbria@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

DALLAS TWP. – An oil and natural gas company has asked township officials if it can lay pipeline underneath township property in return for money.

Two officials from Chief Oil and Gas attended the supervisors meeting Tuesday evening in search of an answer as to whether they can lay pipeline under a parcel of township-owned land.

Supervisor Glenn Howell said the land is along a gravel road off the Old Tunkhannock Highway. The gravel road leads to a Little League field and some other things, he said.

Township solicitor Thomas Brennan confirmed the company is offering “a substantial amount” of money to the township to lay the pipeline, though Brennan would not disclose the amount.

Brennan said there is no question about the legality of allowing the company to lay the pipe underneath township land. However, he said he first wants to take a look at the land to know what is involved.

The officials from the company also are wondering what they would have to do if they wanted to lay pipe under or along the township’s right-of-way. They said more than 20 miles of pipeline is planned coming from the north and terminating east of Dallas High School.

Brennan asked if the officials could provide a copy of the agreement they have with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation regarding their right-of-way usage. Brennan told the officials that he would have more information for them at the next supervisors meeting on July 6.

Earlier on Tuesday, township Zoning Officer Len Kozick said he’s heard from property owners in the township that they are being offered right-of-way agreements as well. And at least one agreement has already been signed.

According to Luzerne County property records, Leonard DeLeur, who owns Back to Basics – a fireplace and stove shop in Dallas – leased a 50-foot right-of-way along the edge of his 24-acre property in the township.

DeLeur said Chief offered him $20 per foot of pipeline laid on his property.

Kristi Gittins, vice president, Chief Oil & Gas, said a definite path has not been chosen for a pipeline, and one won’t be chosen until wells are drilled. She said no imminent drilling is planned for Luzerne County; the company’s next two wells will be drilled in Sullivan and Wyoming counties.

Josh Longmore, director of the Luzerne Conservation District, confirmed that drilling is slated to begin on his father’s land in Monroe Township, Wyoming County, in mid-July. His father, Robert Longmore, has a lease allowing Chief to drill on his 97-acre farm near Noxen Township.

Chief, which has 75 wells drilled in 10 counties, has wells in Lycoming, Bradford and Susquehanna counties that are producing gas, but there’s currently no way to get it to market. Gittins said gas is going to market from only about half of Chief’s wells in the Northeast because it takes a while to build a pipeline infrastructure where none previously existed.

Gittins said it costs about $1 million a mile to lay pipeline. And lease holders don’t see any royalty money until the gas gets to market.

Gittins said that Chief is selectively seeking leases in Luzerne County, but only in the area of currently leased land, she said. The company has leased a few properties in Fairmount Township. The Dallas, Texas-based company has 650,000 acres leased in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, she said.

In other business, supervisors awarded a bid for a paving and drainage project on Main and Campground roads to Popple Construction, the lowest bidder, at $147,530 for Main Road and $56,642.33 for Campground Road.

Supervisors Vice Chairman Frank Wagner previously said the project will consist of paving Main Road from the Kingston Township line to Route 309, as well as all of Campground Road.

Also, George Stolarick, who said he has lived on Ridge Street for the past 45 years, asked the supervisors to consider paving his road. Stolarick said that although there are only three houses on his road, eight families use the road to access their homes.

But, Supervisors Chairman Phil Walter said “it’s not in the cards right now.”

Rebecca Bria, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7436. Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7311.

Copyright: Times Leader

By Patrick Sweet (Staff Writer)
Published: June 15, 2010

NOXEN – Chief Oil and Gas may begin construction on a natural gas well just a few miles north of the border between Luzerne and Wyoming counties as soon as the second week of July.

Off Route 29 in Noxen, short stakes mark the future location of the drilling pad on Robert Longmore’s 97-acre farm. The state Department of Environmental Protection is currently reviewing the Texas-based gas company’s permit to place and operate a well it filed May 11.

The farm is near properties that are part of the Noxen Area Gas Group, a body of roughly 150 families with a combined 8,500 acres which is in the midst of negotiating a lease with Houston, Texas-based Carrizo Oil and Gas.

Just down the road from Longmore, Noxen group organizer Joel Field verified that the group is in the final stages of negotiation with Carrizo. Field and co-organizer Harry Traver declined further comment due to the sensitivity of the negotiations.

“Until things are settled down, they’d rather not give any statements,” Harry Traver’s wife, Dawn Traver, said Monday.

Longmore, 56, has owned the farm since 1998 and signed a lease with Chief roughly four and a half years ago. The landmen who approached Longmore about the deal, he said, made the three-page lease giving his family $25 per acre with the minimum 12.5 percent royalty sound like a good deal.

“We were kind of taken advantage of four and a half years ago,” Longmore said. “I know people getting $6,000 an acre.”

The lease had almost no provisions protecting Longmore’s farm. At the time, the landmen made it seem unlikely that drilling would ever commence during the terms of his lease, which ends May 15, 2011.

Chief Oil and Gas media contact Ben McCue attempted to reach operations employees for comment Monday afternoon but they were unavailable by press time.

Since Longmore signed, though, he said his experience with the company has been much more positive.

Earlier this year, the Longmores were given the opportunity to amend the lease.

“They proposed some amendments to the lease,” Longmore said, “so we countered with some amendments with some environmental stuff.”

Chief offered to reopen the terms of the lease in order to add protections for the company in anticipation of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that could have invalidated thousands of gas leases where gas companies were deducting production costs from the state minimum royalty.

The opinion on the case was an interpretation of the Pennsylvania’s Minimum Royalty Act which establishes the 12.5 percent royalty requirement for all oil or natural gas recovered from a well but doesn’t stipulate when to calculate the royalty.

The court ultimately decided in favor of the gas companies roughly a week after the Longmores and Chief finalized the revised lease.

The Longmores added amendments that protected ground and surface water, along with the 0.25-mile stretch of Bowmans Creek that runs through the property.

Longmore’s son, Josh Longmore, manages the Luzerne County Conservation District and helped his father amend the lease.

“Unfortunately, they signed a very basic lease that didn’t have some of the protections that the newer leases have,” Josh Longmore said. “Our biggest goal, our biggest hope is that the property maintains its natural beauty, its agricultural purpose.”

The younger Longmore doesn’t have any stake in his parents’ farm, but felt that it was necessary to help. He and his father combed through leases that they found online and pulled out the clauses that fit their needs.

“There was like three or four different categories of amendments,” Longmore said.

Chief accepted 90 percent of their roughly 20 amendments, Longmore said.

The company did draw the line on an amendment that would have prohibited the company from disposing cuttings – the rock equivalent to sawdust – on the pad. The company argued it would be cost-prohibitive to haul it off-site, Longmore said.

“I really got the impression that they weren’t hiding anything from us,” Longmore said. “They were willing to answer every question we had.”

psweet@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2112

Copyright: The Citizens Voice

U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak holds a meeting at Misericordia University.

By Sherry Long slong@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

Published on June 13, 2010

DALLAS TWP. – Property owners concerned about the effects of Marcellus Shale drilling on water reservoirs made their views clearly known Saturday afternoon during a packed town hall meeting at Misericordia University’s library.

They wanted a moratorium enacted immediately on all gas drilling throughout the state until more is known on how to safely drill natural gas wells without using dangerous chemicals in the hydrofracturing process. The process uses between 1 million to 1.5 million of gallons of water per well laced with chemicals and dirt under high pressure to force the ground open to release natural gas, geologist Patrick Considine said.

Considine and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak, whose campaign organized the town hall forum, said that during President George W. Bush’s administration, requirements on oil and gas companies were dramatically lifted. Considine, president of Considine Associates and forum panel member, explained that federal and state officials are not entitled to know what mixtures of chemicals each gas drilling company uses because it is considered a trade secret formula.

He warned that the federal and state governments need more officials to oversee the drilling processes, so the companies are not tempted to cut corners when disposing of the water after the fracking.

“Oil and gas companies need to be held to the same standards as other companies. We don’t need more regulations; we need to find ways to enforce the regulations we have,” Considine said.

People wanting the moratorium drowned out the drilling supporters, including business owner, economist and farmer Joe Grace of Morris in Lycoming County, who sees this industry being one of the biggest Pennsylvania has ever experienced by bringing 88,000 jobs to the state just this year and generating millions in revenue.

Worried about the environment and safety of area water systems, local podiatrist Dr. Thomas Jiunta adamantly disagreed with Grace, pointing to the recent gas well drilling incident in Clearfield County and a gas pipeline accident that killed one worker in Texas.

“This is not a safe activity as we know how to do it right now. We need to stop it first. We are putting the cart before the horse when you are talking about economic boom. You can’t drink gas,” said Jiunta of Dallas, a Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition founding member.

Jiunta added more focus should be put jobs that will support and grow green and renewable energy sources.

Sestak told people he sees gas drilling as an economic boon to the state, yet it needs to be done in a responsible way.

“I think this would be a good way to yes, exploit our resources, but not our communities. Business has to pause. Harrisburg has to stop until we get it right,” Sestak said, adding that he supports enacting a 5 percent severance tax on the drilling companies. He said is in favor of a moratorium

No representatives from the campaign of Sestak’s opponent, former U.S. rep. Pat Toomey, attended the forum.

A statement from the Republican candidate’s campaign staff said Sestak’s plan for taxing the drilling will backfire by pushing those companies to focus on other states.

“Marcellus Shale has the potential to provide Pennsylvania with over 200,000 new jobs and millions of dollars in added revenue, but Joe Sestak’s plan to tax natural gas extraction will chase these jobs out of Pennsylvania. A recent study warned that a tax on Marcellus natural gas output would very likely divert investment to other states like Colorado and Texas. This is further proof that Joe Sestak’s ‘more government, less jobs’ approach is bad for Pennsylvania,” Toomey’s Deputy Communications Director Kristin Anderson said.

State Rep. Karen Boback, R-Harveys Lake, did not attend the forum, but issued a statement Friday stating she was working to develop legislation to protect drinking water from gas drilling practices. Knowing that will take time to become law, she is urging Gov. Ed Rendell to issue an executive order implementing four additional rules before permits can be issued.

Her opponent, Richard Shermanski, a Democrat, attended the meeting, telling people he would not support any form of drilling if he knows it will damage water reservoirs.

Many attending the forum reside in Luzerne County, but some people, including Leslie Avakian of Greenfield Township in northern Lackawanna County, drove an hour to voice their views.

She believes the state’s Department of Environmental Protection needs to be spilt up into two separate agencies because DEP currently issues the permits and regulates the gas companies.

Lynn Hesscease of Dallas told her story of how she became deathly sick after three years of oil leaking in her cellar from a rusted pipe.

She explained how she can’t use any type of products made from petroleum – polyester clothing, petroleum jelly or use plastic cups.

“We have to be very careful it is not near our drinking water and we are not exposed to the chemicals or fumes because if we are, people will get sick,” Hesscease said.

Sherry Long, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7159.

Copyright: The Times Leader

U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak holds a meeting at Misericordia University.

By Sherry Longslong@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

DALLAS TWP. – Property owners concerned about the effects of Marcellus Shale drilling on water reservoirs made their views clearly known Saturday afternoon during a packed town hall meeting at Misericordia University’s library.

They wanted a moratorium enacted immediately on all gas drilling throughout the state until more is known on how to safely drill natural gas wells without using dangerous chemicals in the hydrofracturing process. The process uses between 1 million to 1.5 million of gallons of water per well laced with chemicals and dirt under high pressure to force the ground open to release natural gas, geologist Patrick Considine said.

Considine and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak, whose campaign organized the town hall forum, said that during President George W. Bush’s administration, requirements on oil and gas companies were dramatically lifted. Considine, president of Considine Associates and forum panel member, explained that federal and state officials are not entitled to know what mixtures of chemicals each gas drilling company uses because it is considered a trade secret formula.

He warned that the federal and state governments need more officials to oversee the drilling processes, so the companies are not tempted to cut corners when disposing of the water after the fracking.

“Oil and gas companies need to be held to the same standards as other companies. We don’t need more regulations; we need to find ways to enforce the regulations we have,” Considine said.

People wanting the moratorium drowned out the drilling supporters, including business owner, economist and farmer Joe Grace of Morris in Lycoming County, who sees this industry being one of the biggest Pennsylvania has ever experienced by bringing 88,000 jobs to the state just this year and generating millions in revenue.

Worried about the environment and safety of area water systems, local podiatrist Dr. Thomas Jiunta adamantly disagreed with Grace, pointing to the recent gas well drilling incident in Clearfield County and a gas pipeline accident that killed one worker in Texas.

“This is not a safe activity as we know how to do it right now. We need to stop it first. We are putting the cart before the horse when you are talking about economic boom. You can’t drink gas,” said Jiunta of Dallas, a Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition founding member.

Jiunta added more focus should be put jobs that will support and grow green and renewable energy sources.

Sestak told people he sees gas drilling as an economic boon to the state, yet it needs to be done in a responsible way.

“I think this would be a good way to yes, exploit our resources, but not our communities. Business has to pause. Harrisburg has to stop until we get it right,” Sestak said, adding that he supports enacting a 5 percent severance tax on the drilling companies. He said is in favor of a moratorium

No representatives from the campaign of Sestak’s opponent, former U.S. rep. Pat Toomey, attended the forum.

A statement from the Republican candidate’s campaign staff said Sestak’s plan for taxing the drilling will backfire by pushing those companies to focus on other states.

“Marcellus Shale has the potential to provide Pennsylvania with over 200,000 new jobs and millions of dollars in added revenue, but Joe Sestak’s plan to tax natural gas extraction will chase these jobs out of Pennsylvania. A recent study warned that a tax on Marcellus natural gas output would very likely divert investment to other states like Colorado and Texas. This is further proof that Joe Sestak’s ‘more government, less jobs’ approach is bad for Pennsylvania,” Toomey’s Deputy Communications Director Kristin Anderson said.

State Rep. Karen Boback, R-Harveys Lake, did not attend the forum, but issued a statement Friday stating she was working to develop legislation to protect drinking water from gas drilling practices. Knowing that will take time to become law, she is urging Gov. Ed Rendell to issue an executive order implementing four additional rules before permits can be issued.

Her opponent, Richard Shermanski, a Democrat, attended the meeting, telling people he would not support any form of drilling if he knows it will damage water reservoirs.

Many attending the forum reside in Luzerne County, but some people, including Leslie Avakian of Greenfield Township in northern Lackawanna County, drove an hour to voice their views.

She believes the state’s Department of Environmental Protection needs to be spilt up into two separate agencies because DEP currently issues the permits and regulates the gas companies.

Lynn Hesscease of Dallas told her story of how she became deathly sick after three years of oil leaking in her cellar from a rusted pipe.

She explained how she can’t use any type of products made from petroleum – polyester clothing, petroleum jelly or use plastic cups.

“We have to be very careful it is not near our drinking water and we are not exposed to the chemicals or fumes because if we are, people will get sick,” Hesscease said.

Sherry Long, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7159.

Copyright: Times Leader