MARK NALE, PA Outdoor Writers Association
MarkAngler@aol.com
Sun., Sept. 6, 2009
It is amazing and sad to realize what $1 million in lobbying effort will buy in Pennsylvania. Our state budget is still not settled. The state is strapped for revenue, so it seems that it would be a no-brainer to tax the billions of dollars of natural gas that will be extracted from the very-deep Marcellus Shale formation in Pennsylvania. A proposed 5 percent tax was expected to generate $90 million in this fiscal year alone.
According to Richard Martin of the Forest Coalition, Pennsylvania is the only major fossil fuel-producing eastern state that does not levy a mineral resource extraction (severance) tax.
On Aug. 31, Gov. Ed Rendell announced that he was dropping his plan to impose such a tax. According to the Associated Press, Rendell told reporters that “conversations with (read ‘lobbying by’) the major gas producers convinced administration officials that imposing such a tax at this early stage could hurt the industry.”
The idea of a tax was first proposed in February, won support in the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, but faced strong Republican opposition. It is amazing what $1 million worth of lobbying can buy — this figure is based on information from the Pennsylvania Forest Coalition, an environmental watchdog group.Let’s back up for a moment and look at Pennsylvania’s sad history of resource extraction. By the late 1800s, almost the entire state had been stripped of its timber, with no thought to the future. Fires raged in the aftermath and billions of tons of high-quality topsoil were forever lost to the fires and erosion.
The oil boom started here with the drilling of Drake’s well in 1859. Prior to 1901, one-half of the world’s oil supply came from Pennsylvania. This resulted in more erosion and streams polluted with sediment and oil.
Then, there is the legacy of “King Coal” — over 10 billion tons of coal have been mined from 21 counties in this state over the past 200 years. Environmental regulations and bonding were inadequate. The industry left behind hundreds of unreclaimed strip mines and over 3,000 miles of dead streams — polluted with sulfuric acid, iron, aluminum and manganese. Millions of dollars are spent each year in attempting to correct this wrong.
We are now rushing headlong into the Marcellus Shale “boom,” yet again with inadequate environmental protection and little thought to the future. Pennsylvania’s forests, ground water and trout streams are once more on the line. Have we learned anything from our past mistakes?
With environmental concerns at the forefront, the state of New York put a one-year moratorium on Marcellus shale drilling until they could study the process and put proper environmental safeguards in place. Not heavily-lobbied Pennsylvania, though — we would not want to hurt the industry.
Drilling for methane trapped in the Marcellus shale is a very different animal.
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Once the driller hits the gas-holding formation, the bit turns 90 degrees and drills horizontally through the formation. A charge is detonated deep underground. Hydro-fracturing occurs next. During this phase, three-to nine-million gallons of water a day is hauled in and pumped underground under high pressure. The water is mixed with sand and some combination of 54 different chemicals that have been identified in the fracking fluid. Many of these chemicals have health hazards associated with them. The exact mixture is claimed to be “proprietary” by the drilling companies.
Depending on the well, 33 to 50 percent of the fluid returns back to the surface, where it is collected and supposedly treated. This fluid is laden with salt, the same chemicals that were forced down the well, and other new contaminates. Municipal sewage treatment plants were not built to handle this waste.
“Some wells may be fracked more than once during their active life, which might span more than a decade,” said Bryan Swistock, water resources specialist with Penn State Cooperative Extension. “Where that water comes from, and what the drillers do with it when it is recovered, is a big issue for our state.”
Maybe flows are adequate today, but from tiny mountain streams to the Susquehanna River — all have recently suffered from low summer flows, and the associated higher water temperatures and lower oxygen levels. If just one company fracking one well needs millions of gallons of water a day, how will our water resources support multiple companies fracking dozens of wells at the same time year after year?
“Our mountain streams, many of which harbor wild trout, are precious resources, and we cannot allow them to be dewatered to dangerously low levels,” Swistock said. “Two drilling operations in Lycoming County were shut down by the state Department of Environmental Protection because they were drawing huge volumes of water from small streams in violation of the Clean Streams Law.”
Since extraction industries damage the resource, it is only common sense to direct some potential tax revenue to fund conservation programs. Just such a bill, House Bill 1489 (as amended June 23, 2009), is out there for consideration. That bill would place a tax on natural gas, similar to ones levied by surrounding states.
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We are on the cusp of another natural resource boom. Will it also leave behind a legacy of environmental destruction? Pennsylvania’s record is deplorable. We need to get started in the proper direction. I recommend the following steps be taken:
• Slow down the process — natural gas is not going to disappear.
• Enact proper environmental safeguards and hire enough inspectors.
• Strictly monitor and control water usage and disposal.
• Impose a severance tax on gas and direct a percentage of the proceeds to be used to benefit the resource. Passing House Bill 1489 would be a good start.
Sadly, of the 21 sponsors listed on HB 1489, only one, Camille “Bud” George is local. Thank you, Mr. George. Will common sense or industry lobbying rule the day? Please contact your representative and ask them to support the amended version of HB 1489.
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