Posts Tagged ‘Times Leader staff writer’

County officials had been negotiating with EnCana Oil & Gas USA Inc. of Denver.

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

An energy company that plans to drill for natural gas in the Back Mountain has advised Luzerne County officials that the company will not pursue a lease for natural gas drilling at Moon Lake Park.

County officials had been negotiating with EnCana Oil & Gas USA Inc. of Denver to drill at the park and tap lake water needed to help fracture rock to release gas.

“The county informed us of their interest in entering into a lease for the development of natural gas resources on the Moon Lake property,” EnCana spokeswoman Wendy Weidenbeck said in an e-mail.

Weidenbeck said that as with any business opportunity, companies must evaluate multiple factors to help guide their decisions.

“We carefully considered the potential needs of our business and concerns over the development of natural gas resources on recreational property. After careful consideration, we have decided that we will not pursue a lease to drill for natural gas resources on the Moon Lake property,” she said.

Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla said she has been out of the office after knee surgery and had not yet been briefed on the issue.

Commissioner Thomas Cooney said he had not talked with EnCana officials and that Gibbons had alerted him to the news on Friday.

Cooney said other energy companies might be interested in exploration at the county-owned park and the development of a request for proposals was not out of the question. However, “there has been no conversation leading that way right now,” he said.

Cooney said he did not know how far along talks about selling water from the lake at Moon Lake Park have come. But if the county were to negotiate the sale of water, there would have to be appraisals and bidding and permits would have to be secured, he said.

The park’s 48-acre, spring-fed lake holds millions of gallons of water and is 13.5 feet in its deepest spot, county officials have said. All park water drainage pipes also feed into the lake.

Cooney said he thinks the reaction of the Sierra Club to drilling at Moon Lake probably influenced EnCana’s decision.

An official with the Sierra Club’s Northeastern Pennsylvania chapter said in February that county commissioners didn’t have legal authority to allow natural gas drilling at the park, which is located in Plymouth Township.

Frank Muraca, who sits on the organization’s executive committee, had said much of the park land was purchased with state and federal funds in the 1960s through a program known as the Project 70 Land Acquisition and Borrowing Act.

Lands acquired through the act must be used for recreation, conservation and historical purposes unless approval is granted by the General Assembly, the governor and the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Muraca had said he also found other legal and zoning stumbling blocks that would have to be met to allow drilling.

Muraca had initially presented the information to Commissioner Stephen A. Urban, who has said he couldn’t comment on Muraca’s assertions until he did his own research. He has said he is supportive of “responsible” drilling on county property to generate needed revenue.

Urban did not return a message seeking comment for this story.

The park officially closed Jan. 28 because commissioners stripped funding for staff and other expenses from the 2010 budget, saying that they could not justify non-essential expenses with a property tax increase.

Petrilla has said she is willing to consider any offer to generate revenue, as long as the park’s recreational atmosphere is not compromised. She also has said she would not support any offers that would drain or pollute the lake.

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

Copyright: Times Leader

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

As energy companies and lease holders extol the benefits and safety of natural gas drilling in the state, and environmentalists and people who live near drilling operations point to chemical spills, water pollution and noise, a congressman last week called for an effort from opposing sides in the energy debate to work together for compromise.

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Delaware County, who is running for the U.S. Senate, came to The Peace and Justice Center in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday to host a forum on Marcellus Shale development.

Panelists included James Shallenberger, a Pennsylvania-licensed geologist and senior project manager at consulting firm Princeton Hydro who spoke on behalf of the gas drilling industry; David T. Messersmith, an extension educator with Penn State Cooperative Extension in Wayne County who is an expert on Marcellus Shale; and Dr. Thomas Jiunta, a Lehman Township resident with a podiatry practice in Kingston who founded Luzerne County Citizens for Clean Water.

“There was a lot of passion in that room. … One side is saying one thing, one side is saying another. I want to be a person who brings people together for a principal compromise, not a compromise of principles,” Sestak said last week in a phone interview.

“I personally believe this is a great economic opportunity for our state, particularly if we are able to benefit by a proper excise tax and if we put the proper protections in place,” Sestak said.

Sestak also said a priority should be enabling community and area colleges to train people for gas industry jobs to ensure Pennsylvanians are getting jobs associated with the drilling industry, rather than leaving energy companies with no choice but to hire experienced people from out-of-state.

Sestak said he learned much about the economic benefits as well as the environmental problems associated with natural gas exploration when he visited several counties in which Marcellus Shale drilling has been ongoing while he was on the campaign trail.

He noted that former Sen. Rick Santorum and Sen. Arlen Specter voted for “the Halliburton Loophole,” which exempts the gas and oil industry from complying with the Safe Water Drinking Act. And he said he supports the “FRAC Act” – Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act, which would amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to include the gas and oil industry.

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

Copyright: Times Leader

DEP probes Cabot Oil & Gas query about “discharge of black water” in Dimock Twp.

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

DIMOCK TWP. – The state Department of Environmental Protection is investigating a possible leak or spill at a natural gas drilling site in Susquehanna County.

Mark Carmon, DEP spokesman at the Wilkes-Barre office, said the department received a call to its emergency response line from Cabot Oil & Gas Co. on Sunday afternoon informing the department that employees found “a discharge of black water” at the site.

The call was referred to the department’s Gas & Oil Program team, which operates from DEP’s Williamsport office.

Dan Spadoni, DEP spokesman at that office, said the team is investigating “the possibility of a spill or leak at Cabot’s Hibbard drill pad” since Monday, but has not yet determined if there was a spill or leak at the site.

Spadoni said there are two wells on one pad at the site, and no drilling activity is currently taking place. He said the team took samples from a private drinking water well that is currently not being used, from two nearby springs and from the site pit.

The samples are being analyzed at DEP’s lab in Harrisburg.

“We need to see those results to see what our future course of action will be,” Spadoni said.

He expected lab results back in a week or two.

Spadoni said Cabot’s consultant also collected samples and the drill cuttings in the pit for analysis. Site pits, which are lined, are where the residue from the drilling and hydraulic fracturing processes ends up, he said.

There was discussion on an online Susquehanna County gas forum about the possibility of a nearby pond being drained, but Spadoni said he had no information about the pond and no samples were collected from it.

He confirmed Cabot had a vacuum truck on-site “in response to where this dark fluid was observed. It was a voluntary measure on their part,” he said.

Spadoni said he believes there was no recent drilling activity at the site. The site had not been shut down because of the discovery of the liquid, he said.

Ken Komoroski, spokesman for Cabot Oil & Gas, said there was no indication of any environmental contamination or pollution.

“Discolored water was observed over the weekend and Cabot immediately responded to observing water in a ditch. We notified DEP and took the additional measure to have a vacuum truck remove water from ditch,” Komoroski said, adding that employees noticed the water while driving by the site on Route 29.

Cabot also drained the pit to check if it was possible the water was leaking from the drill pit, but the pit liner was “completely intact. All indications are that it was not a result of Cabot activities,” Komoroski said.

Komoroski said the drill site has been in existence “for quite some time, and there doesn’t seem to be any reason” for the discolored water to appear “since it hasn’t been active site. We were not able to identify any potential cause or relationship.”

He said the water was found “in the vicinity of the site, but close enough that we wanted to consider the possibility that it was related to our activities.”

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

Copyright: Times Leader

By Andrew M. Sederaseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer

The landscape of the state’s northern tier is changing as natural gas drillers set up shop from the Poconos west to Tioga County.

The burgeoning industry also is bringing change to the curricula at some local colleges hoping to capitalize on the need for a skilled and trained work force.

Lackawanna College in Scranton and Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport have launched programs specifically catering to those interested in securing employment in the natural gas and ancillary fields. Other schools, including Johnson College and Keystone College, are investigating courses to prepare students for jobs in the industry.

When the industry made initial steps to move in to the region, Lackawanna College got in on the ground floor.

“Our goal was to try to find a niche where we could train people for jobs they could find here,” said Larry D. Milliken, director of energy programs at the college. The school, with input from the industry, created an applied science degree in Oil and Gas Production Technology program in December 2008.

The school asked Milliken, a former gas company employee with a background as an economic geologist who lives in Dunmore, to help with the program.

He sees great potential for the field and the creation of jobs, as companies look to tap into the gas supplies within the Marcellus Shale, a layer of gas-laden rock about a mile underground across most of Pennsylvania.

“I’m not sure most people realize the magnitude of what the Marcellus can mean and do for the state. … It’s going to be a huge game changer in Pennsylvania.”

Milliken said he sees hundreds of immediate jobs and the potential for thousands more as a result of gas drilling.

As an example, he said one well tender will be needed for every 20 wells that come on line. This year alone, he said, more than 1,000 wells are anticipated to be drilled and that number should double next year. This will mean 50 to 100 new well-tender jobs will be created every year for the next 20 years, he projects.

To prepare potential employees for those jobs, Lackawanna College offers an associate’s degree in natural gas technology and is developing an operating and maintenance degree program in compression technology that could debut next fall.

In addition, the college will soon start giving accounting students at its Towanda Center the option of customizing their degree to prepare them to work in the accounting side of the natural gas industry, Milliken said.

Milliken said Lackawanna relied heavily on curricula and course work offered by established programs at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, Wyo.; North Central Texas College in Gainesville, Texas, and Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas. Using that material, Lackawanna created an outline for its own potential programs and sent it to 10 gas companies “for feedback and modifications before settling in on our own curriculum.”

At the moment, the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport is the only other place to get industry-specific training. The school has partnered with the Penn State Cooperative Extension to create The Marcellus Shale Education & Training Center.

Opened in 2008, the center will identify the industry’s work force needs and respond with education tracks that train people for those jobs. Careers include welders, construction workers, drivers and machine operators and fabricators.Tracy Brundage, the school’s managing director of the Workforce Development and Continuing Education programs, said that as the landscape of the Northern Tier changes, so too do course offerings at the college.

She said input from energy companies has been influential in the design of 21 new courses, including those through the Fit 4 Natural Gas program developed by work force development boards in more than a dozen Northern Tier counties using Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry funds.

Officials from Lackawanna College also lauded the affiliations and assistance offered by gas companies.

“They’ve been very active,” Milliken said.

Last week, Chesapeake Energy donated $50,000 to help Lackawanna College expand its Natural Gas Technology Program at its New Milford Center campus in Susquehanna County. The college plans to use the money for capital-equipment costs in fitting out their new facilities for the program that began last fall.

“We’ve been an eager partner in these efforts,” said Brian Grove, director of corporate development for Chesapeake Energy.

Milliken said that in the short time the program’s been up and running at Lackawanna, the partnership has seen tremendous interest from potential students and positive feedback from the industry.

The companies reflected praise for the two-way-street relationship it has with the local schools.

Grove said “crafting an effective educational infrastructure will benefit the community far beyond its borders by equipping locals with skills they can market within the industry. A highly skilled work force is critical to our success as a company and the community’s long-term economic success as well.”

Brundage said that while the program at Penn Tech is still “in its infancy,” she, too, feels confident that the college’s programs have progressed nicely in a short period of time. “I think we’ve positioned ourselves pretty well with the industry. We’re not going to be able to meet all of their needs but we can help with a lot of them,” Brundage said.

So far 65 students have taken a course, including 14 who have completed welding courses. One course was created specifically at the request of the gas industry.

“They told us what they need as far as some of the welding components, so we aligned some things internally to meet those needs,” Brundage said.

Wendy J. Wiedenbeck, a spokeswoman for Denver-based EnCana Oil and Gas, said it’s too early to discuss her company’s needs because it is still in the exploratory stages. The company is looking at drilling specifically in Luzerne County.

“If we are successful and determine we would like to develop additional wells in the area, an important first step will be to understand what work-force development programs already exist in the area and how the curriculum aligns with business needs,” she said.

“New curriculum and training programs often come into existence after we’ve been operating in an area for some time,” Wiedenbeck added. “They evolve from the relationships we build along the way and are very much the result of a collaborative approach. In areas where we have established operations, we’ve collaborated with local colleges to create or build upon programs that help community members build the skills needed to compete for industry jobs.”

Andrew M. Seder, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 570-829-7269.

Copyright: Times Leader

A panel offers an update on legislation, which turns out to center on money.

By Rory Sweeney rsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

BENTON – With interest increasing in drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale, there’s a whole swirl of legislation related to it being considered in Harrisburg, but much of it comes down to money.

“A lot of what goes on in Harrisburg is who’s gonna pay to make the pie and who’s going to get a piece,” said state Rep. Garth Everett, R-Lycoming. “The fight is how we’re going to divide up the pie. … We want to see the Commonwealth get its fair share, but we also don’t want to … go New York on them and drive them away.”

Everett was among two other representatives – Karen Boback, R-Harveys Lake, and David Millard, R-Columbia – who spoke on Thursday evening at a meeting of the Columbia County Landowners Coalition.

A state Department of Environmental Protection official and a Penn State University educator were also on the panel.

Everett described the intention and status of nearly 20 bills throughout the legislature, noting that they fit into four categories: taxation and where the money goes, water protection, access to information and surface-owner rights.

While some likely won’t ever see a vote, Everett said a few will probably pass this session, including a bill that would require companies to release well production information within six months instead of the current five years.

He said a tax on the gas extraction also seems likely “at some point.”

For the most part, the industry received a pass at the meeting, with most comments favorable. One woman suggested companies might underreport the amount of gas they take out and questioned what’s being done to help landowners keep them honest.

Dave Messersmith of Penn State suggested that an addendum to each lease should be the opportunity for an annual audit of the company’s logs.

Robert Yowell, the director of the DEP’s north-central regional office, said the rush to drill in the shale happened so quickly that DEP is still trying to catch up with regulations. Likewise, he said, companies are still becoming acquainted with differences here from where they’re used to drilling.

“When they first came to town, I don’t think they realized how widely our streams fluctuated,” he said.

He added some public perceptions need to be changed – such as the belief that people aren’t naturally exposed to radiation all the time – and that he felt confident that “this can be done safely.”

In response to contamination issues in Dimock Township in Susquehanna County, DEP is upgrading and standardizing its requirements for well casings, Everett said. He added that it’s being suggested the contamination in might have been caused by “odd geology.”

“Every time humans do anything, there’s an impact on the land,” he said. “We just need to balance this right so that we end up with something we’re happy with when we’re done.”

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

View the original article here

A panel offers an update on legislation, which turns out to center on money.

By Rory Sweeney rsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

BENTON – With interest increasing in drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale, there’s a whole swirl of legislation related to it being considered in Harrisburg, but much of it comes down to money.

“A lot of what goes on in Harrisburg is who’s gonna pay to make the pie and who’s going to get a piece,” said state Rep. Garth Everett, R-Lycoming. “The fight is how we’re going to divide up the pie. … We want to see the Commonwealth get its fair share, but we also don’t want to … go New York on them and drive them away.”

Everett was among two other representatives – Karen Boback, R-Harveys Lake, and David Millard, R-Columbia – who spoke on Thursday evening at a meeting of the Columbia County Landowners Coalition.

A state Department of Environmental Protection official and a Penn State University educator were also on the panel.

Everett described the intention and status of nearly 20 bills throughout the legislature, noting that they fit into four categories: taxation and where the money goes, water protection, access to information and surface-owner rights.

While some likely won’t ever see a vote, Everett said a few will probably pass this session, including a bill that would require companies to release well production information within six months instead of the current five years.

He said a tax on the gas extraction also seems likely “at some point.”

For the most part, the industry received a pass at the meeting, with most comments favorable. One woman suggested companies might underreport the amount of gas they take out and questioned what’s being done to help landowners keep them honest.

Dave Messersmith of Penn State suggested that an addendum to each lease should be the opportunity for an annual audit of the company’s logs.

Robert Yowell, the director of the DEP’s north-central regional office, said the rush to drill in the shale happened so quickly that DEP is still trying to catch up with regulations. Likewise, he said, companies are still becoming acquainted with differences here from where they’re used to drilling.

“When they first came to town, I don’t think they realized how widely our streams fluctuated,” he said.

He added some public perceptions need to be changed – such as the belief that people aren’t naturally exposed to radiation all the time – and that he felt confident that “this can be done safely.”

In response to contamination issues in Dimock Township in Susquehanna County, DEP is upgrading and standardizing its requirements for well casings, Everett said. He added that it’s being suggested the contamination in might have been caused by “odd geology.”

“Every time humans do anything, there’s an impact on the land,” he said. “We just need to balance this right so that we end up with something we’re happy with when we’re done.”

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

View the original article here

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

Drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale that underlies much of Northeastern Pennsylvania is expected to create hundreds to thousands of jobs, depending on who’s doing the projections, and have other widespread economic effects.

Some of those new work opportunities will be with the drilling and gas companies, but others are expected to be with subcontracted services, from land surveying and engineering to hauling and construction. Legal and banking services also will be needed.

Chesapeake Energy has invested significantly in not only leasing land in Pennsylvania, but in doing business with private companies.

With 94 wells drilled in the state in 2009 and more than 200 additional wells planned for this year, the company has paid subcontractors and vendors in Pennsylvania $269 million since January 2009, company spokesman Rory Sweeney said in an e-mail.

Among the first employers to see the effects of natural gas exploration are law, surveying and engineering firms.

“We are seeing an increase in our business volume,” said Mark Van Loon, a partner with Rosenn Jenkins & Greenwald, a law firm with offices in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton.

“We’ve represented quite a few people in relation to the Marcellus Shale and land leases in Luzerne County, north to the New York border, and east and west from there in Susquehanna, Bradford, Luzerne and Lackawanna counties. There have been some in Wayne County, but not as much,” Van Loon said.

Lease holders also will also need to protect their financial assets, and that’s where banks come into the picture.

David Raven, president and chief executive officer of Pennstar Bank, said the financial institution is seeing a significant increase in business related to Marcellus Shale at branches in Susquehanna County.

“It’s specific to folks who receive lease (bonus) payments and eventually will receive royalties on the gas that’s produced,” Raven said.

In addition to landowners who want to protect their rights while negotiating the most lucrative deals, firms and individuals that enter into large contracts with the gas and drilling companies – engineers, construction firms, suppliers and haulers, for example – will want to have those contracts vetted before signing, according to Van Loon.

“If somebody has a contract that’s large enough, they’re likely to have it reviewed by their legal counsel because it involves too much risk for them not to. And there could be contractual disputes in relation to the delivery or performance of services,” he said.

Van Loon said his firm has five attorneys actively working on oil and gas lease issues, but at this point the partners have not seen the need to hire additional staff.

That’s not the case with Borton Lawson, an engineering firm based in Plains Township that also has offices in Bethlehem, State College and, as of two months ago because of the business generated by the Marcellus shale, in Wexford – a town in Pittsburgh’s northern suburbs.

Chris Borton, company president, has referred to the Pittsburgh area as “the heart of the gas and oil industry” in the region.

Last year, Borton Lawson laid off some of its survey crew workers as companies hurt by the recession cut back on land development. But over the last six months, the firm has hired six to eight people – including several surveyors – for jobs directly related to the Marcellus Shale.

And the company is looking for 13 more employees right now to fill positions such as environmental engineers and scientists, an electrical engineer, an automation engineer and a mechanical engineer.

Salaries for those jobs range from $40,000 to $80,000 depending on the type of job and experience of the employee, Borton said.

Borton said his firm is working with five natural gas companies in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The company will open a satellite office in the borough of Towanda, the county seat of Bradford County, on April 15 because of the extensive natural gas exploration and drilling in that area.

County drilling near

One of the gas companies – Encana Oil and Gas Inc. – has leased 25,000 acres of property in Luzerne County. The land is mainly on the north side of Route 118 in Fairmount, Ross, Lake and Lehman townships.

Encana so far has obtained permits for drilling one well in Lake Township and another in Fairmount Township and is seeking a permit for one in Lehman Township, said company spokesman Doug Hock. Hydrogeological studies are now under way, and officials hope to begin constructing wells by May.

“For every well drilled, that creates about 120 jobs, either directly or indirectly. … The bulk of these jobs as we begin operations are done by subcontractors,” Hock said.

Subcontracted work includes water haulers, truck drivers, construction crews for well pad grading and construction and rig hands after the wells are built. Local average wages could see a boost, given that salaries even for less skilled positions range from $60,000 and $70,000, he said.

Hock said Encana prefers to hire local contractors, “but it’s not always possible because of the skills available in the labor market.”

He couldn’t predict how many new jobs will be generated by Encana operations because officials won’t know how many additional wells – if any – might be drilled until they see the results of natural gas production from the first two or three.

“By the end of 2010, we’ll have an idea if we have a good program, something that’s economically viable that we can continue to develop,” Hock said.

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

Copyright: Times Leader

Beaver County lawmaker opposes bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Casey to close “Halliburton loophole.”

By Rory Sweeneyrsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

Concern over environmental damage from natural-gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale region has increased enough to attract federal attention, but at least one state representative believes regulation should be left to the states.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is strengthening its regulations for well construction, and Gov. Ed Rendell responded to the concern last week by announcing a plan to begin hiring 68 more DEP workers for inspections and compliance of gas drilling.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last week an “Eyes on Drilling” tip line for citizens to report – anonymously, if preferred – anything that “appears to be illegal disposal of wastes or other suspicious activity,” according to an EPA news release.

Also, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Scranton, has introduced the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act, which would close the so-called “Halliburton loophole.”

In the Energy Policy Act of 2005, hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” was exempted from the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, creating the loophole. Fracking forces water, sand and chemicals into rock formations underground such as the shale to crack the rock and release natural gas.

In a resolution introduced in the state House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee last week, Rep. Jim Christiana, R-Beaver, called for lawmakers to urge the U.S. Congress to not pass Casey’s proposal.

Noting that fracking itself has not caused any known groundwater contamination at more than 1.1 million wells in which it’s been used, Christiana’s resolution supports continued state regulation of the process. The resolution refers to the 2005 energy act, indicating that Congress specifically meant to exclude fracking.

It also states that a federal Environmental Protection Agency report from 2004 found that hydraulic fracturing in coal bed methane wells “poses minimal threat” to drinking water sources.

State Rep. Jim Wansacz, D-Old Forge, wasn’t sure whether he supported the resolution, but felt confident that it doesn’t really matter either way. Congress members “don’t pay much attention to that,” he said. “Resolutions don’t mean a whole lot.”

He said a federal regulation might help by keeping all states at an equal minimum, but he said treading on states’ rights would “bother” him.

Wansacz said he doubted the bill by Casey would overrule states’ authority, but he was sensitive to the issue.

“Once the feds come in, they take over … so we’ve got to be careful what we ask for.”

State Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Kingston, isn’t so sure the resolution is focused on states’ rights. “This resolution is obviously industry driven” she noted in an e-mail.

“The industry somehow got hydraulic fracking exempted from the (drinking-water act) and now Senator Casey has a bill to eliminate this exemption. I support the Casey bill. … It would protect drinking water and the public health from the risks imposed by hydraulic fracturing.”

Separately, the EPA is offering citizens a way to report drilling problems. The announcement comes in the wake of several controversies over whether companies are reporting all spills.

The state Department of Environmental Protection fined a Towanda company earlier this month for spilling seven tons of drilling wastewater last year. The incident was reported only after a nearby Pennsylvania Department of Transportation crew witnessed it.

In October, a complaint was filed with DEP to investigate a suspicion that trees were damaged at a Wayne County site from an unreported drilling-fluid spill.

According to the release, “public concern about the environmental impacts of oil and natural gas drilling has increased in recent months, particularly regarding development of the Marcellus Shale formation where a significant amount of activity is occurring. … The agency is also very concerned about the proper disposal of waste products, and protecting air and water resources.”

The EPA doesn’t grant drilling permits, but its regulations may apply to storing petroleum products and drilling fluids, the release noted. The EPA wants to have “a better understanding of what people are experiencing and observing as a result of these drilling activities,” the release noted, because “information collected may also be useful in investigating industry practices.

The new DEP employees will be paid for through well-permitting fees that were increased last year. There will also likely be more of them: Rendell said the industry expects to apply for 5,200 permits this year, three times as many as last year.

The new DEP regulations they’ll have to obey include increased responsibility to repair or replace affected water supplies, procedures to correct gas migration issues without waiting for DEP’s direction and re-inspection of existing wells.

The draft regulations were opened for public comment on Friday.

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

Copyright: Times Leader

A panel offers an update on legislation, which turns out to center on money.

By Rory Sweeneyrsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

BENTON – With interest increasing in drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale, there’s a whole swirl of legislation related to it being considered in Harrisburg, but much of it comes down to money.

“A lot of what goes on in Harrisburg is who’s gonna pay to make the pie and who’s going to get a piece,” said state Rep. Garth Everett, R-Lycoming. “The fight is how we’re going to divide up the pie. … We want to see the Commonwealth get its fair share, but we also don’t want to … go New York on them and drive them away.”

Everett was among two other representatives – Karen Boback, R-Harveys Lake, and David Millard, R-Columbia – who spoke on Thursday evening at a meeting of the Columbia County Landowners Coalition.

A state Department of Environmental Protection official and a Penn State University educator were also on the panel.

Everett described the intention and status of nearly 20 bills throughout the legislature, noting that they fit into four categories: taxation and where the money goes, water protection, access to information and surface-owner rights.

While some likely won’t ever see a vote, Everett said a few will probably pass this session, including a bill that would require companies to release well production information within six months instead of the current five years.

He said a tax on the gas extraction also seems likely “at some point.”

For the most part, the industry received a pass at the meeting, with most comments favorable. One woman suggested companies might underreport the amount of gas they take out and questioned what’s being done to help landowners keep them honest.

Dave Messersmith of Penn State suggested that an addendum to each lease should be the opportunity for an annual audit of the company’s logs.

Robert Yowell, the director of the DEP’s north-central regional office, said the rush to drill in the shale happened so quickly that DEP is still trying to catch up with regulations. Likewise, he said, companies are still becoming acquainted with differences here from where they’re used to drilling.

“When they first came to town, I don’t think they realized how widely our streams fluctuated,” he said.

He added some public perceptions need to be changed – such as the belief that people aren’t naturally exposed to radiation all the time – and that he felt confident that “this can be done safely.”

In response to contamination issues in Dimock Township in Susquehanna County, DEP is upgrading and standardizing its requirements for well casings, Everett said. He added that it’s being suggested the contamination in might have been caused by “odd geology.”

“Every time humans do anything, there’s an impact on the land,” he said. “We just need to balance this right so that we end up with something we’re happy with when we’re done.”

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

Copyright: Times Leader

By Rory Sweeneyrsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

Several local legislators have removed their support from a bill purported to protect landowners from unwanted gas drilling near their property, after learning about potential unintended implications in the legislation.

State House Bill 977, introduced by state Rep. Sandra Major, was announced in February to “extend the Oil and Gas Conservation Law to development within the Marcellus Shale deposit,” along with other protections for landowners, according to the co-sponsorship memorandum distributed throughout the House.

Those protections, however, would allow in the Marcellus area so-called “forced pooling.” Defended as a way to reduce land disturbance by maximizing the area each gas well drains, the practice essentially forces landowners into leasing if surrounding land has been leased for drilling.

State Reps. Karen Boback, R-Harveys Lake, Phyllis Mundy, D-Kingston and Jim Wansacz, D-Old Forge, have removed their support of the bill in response to that potential threat.

Mundy asked legal counsel for the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee – where the bill has been sitting since March – to investigate the implication.

“The issue of forced pooling is a double-edged sword,” the analysis concluded. Without it, gas companies are free to drill as close to property lines as possible and siphon off gas from neighboring unleased property that naturally drains out – known as the “Law of Capture” – without compensation. “Yet the remedy of forcing the unwilling landowner to open up the land for drilling is unsatisfactory as it infringes upon individual property rights,” according to the analysis.

Major, R-Montrose, acknowledged that potential interpretation of her bill, but maintains that wasn’t the intent. She said she is open to amending the bill’s language to unambiguously protect landowners’ rights. Mundy, Boback and Wansacz noted that they would consider supporting the bill with changes and acknowledged that their support was based on the claims in the original memo rather than the bill’s wording.

“What we did is we assumed it. Up here, you take people for their word. Bills can be interpreted many different ways,” Wansacz said.

He said he felt confident that, had the bill ever been subjected to hearings, the issues would have arisen and been addressed. “Before a bill becomes law, it never ever looks like what it started out,” he said.

Mundy said she will support existing bills that individually address the other proposals in Major’s bill, such as prohibiting drillers from drilling through unleased land and ensuring that extraction costs aren’t deducted from landowners’ royalties.

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

Copyright: Times Leader