Just last week, the GOP House Energy Task Force, co-chaired by Tina "Drill Baby Drill" Pickett (R-Bradford), unveiled a proposal to violate 390,000 new acres of PA state forest land drilling for gas.
In an environmentally considered move, the Conservation and Natural Resources Advisory Committee has requested a temporary hold on leasing additional state forest land for Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling until the environmental impacts of drilling on the first 74,000 acres can be evaluated.
The Memorandum of Concern, addressed to Governor Edward Rendell and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary Michael DeBerardinis, notes, “We believe that to lease additional substantial acreage of state forest lands at this time would be an abrogation of the public trust of these public lands, and would be a short-sighted approach to the use of the resources managed by this state agency [DCNR].”
The committee also recommended future revenues from leased lands be retained in DCNR’s Oil and Gas Lease Fund to help maintain state parks and forests and to address any environmental issues arising from the drilling.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment