Pittsburgh Bans Natural-Gas Drilling

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Pittsburgh Bans Natural-Gas Drilling

By KRIS MAHER
NOVEMBER 16, 2010

Pittsburgh’s city council voted 9-0 Tuesday to ban natural-gas drilling within city limits, citing health and environmental concerns, becoming the first city in Pennsylvania state to do so.

Many rural towns and landowners around the state have embraced gas exploration into the massive Marcellus Shale formation, as an economic boon. But others fear drilling could damage drinking-water supplies and shouldn’t be conducted in highly populated areas because of the risk of accidents and emissions from equipment.

Industry groups said they were disappointed but didn’t expect the ban to have a significant impact on gas exploration in Pennsylvania because there were no imminent plans by companies to drill in the city.

Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a trade group, said companies wouldn’t challenge the ban. “I don’t anticipate that individual companies would step into that fray,” she said. “There are lots of other places where development is welcome.”

The ban, however, could create uncertainty. “While no one is interested in drilling in the city of Pittsburgh, it’s a bad precedent,” said Matt Pitzarella, a spokesman for Range Resources Corp., which operates rigs in southwest Pennsylvania. He said the company worked “to develop ordinances that provide us with predictability and local governments with reasonable regulations.”

Pittsburgh’s move comes as the incoming governor signals changes in the industry’s favor. Republican Gov.-elect Tom Corbett has said he would lift a moratorium on natural-gas drilling on state lands put in place by outgoing Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell. Mr. Corbett also has said he opposed a severance tax on natural-gas extraction.

Write to Kris Maher at kris.maher@wsj.com

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Comments

One Response to “Pittsburgh Bans Natural-Gas Drilling”
  1. Richard Coleman says:
    November 17, 2010 at 9:51 am

    While it is unlikely that drilling woudl take place there, isn’t it nice that the city fathers decide what they think is best for the people without consulting the citizens to get their input. To me the issue isn’t drilling or not, but pulling the choice of whether people want drilling on their property away from the property owners themselves.