Corbett opposes ‘forced pooling’ of natural gas

Governor speaks at industry seminar as Senate leader gets ready to introduce impact fee bill.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-pa-senate-impact-fee-20110426,0,6499620.story

Gov. Tom Corbett said he is opposed to “forced pooling,” which would give the Marcellus Shale gas well industry the right to drill under and take gas from a property owner that has not signed a lease.

The pooling of gas drilling rights, which is at or near the top of the industry’s wish list, amounts to the use of eminent domain for private interests, the governor said.

The comments on forced pooling were made at the K&L Gates fourth annual Appalachian Basin Oil and Gas Seminar in Green Tree, Allegheny County, an event that drew about 400 people, many from industry and law firms.

“Private eminent domain, I don’t think that’s right,” Corbett said. “I was made aware that it’s on the industry’s wish list, but I don’t agree. If I see a bill that contains forced pooling, I won’t sign it.”

Corbett also repeated his opposition to a severance tax on Marcellus gas extraction.

His speech comes a day after workers were able to replace a damaged wellhead on a Bradford County gas well following last week’s blowout and wastewater spill.

Officials from Chesapeake Energy, who operate the Leroy Township drilling site, announced the completed repairs Monday night. The malfunctioning wellhead was part of the cause of last week’s accident, according to Chesapeake.

While briny wastewater spilled into a nearby creek tributary during the early hours of the incident, both the company and state Department of Environmental Protection have reported no significant impacts so far. DEP officials said Monday they did not have results yet from last week’s water sampling, and were doing additional testing this week.

As investigations by DEP and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials get under way, Chesapeake said its employees will continue to work with regulators on determining the cause of the equipment failure.

Neither state nor federal environmental regulators have indicated what potential penalties could be imposed on the company, but both are seeking information on what happened and the chemicals in the water that was released.

Meanwhile, the top Republican in the state Senate says he’ll unveil the “broad parameters” of a local impact fee on natural gas drillers on Thursday — the day after the Corbett administration’s own shale study panel meets to likely discuss the issue.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, said he’ll hold a 9:30 a.m. conference call Thursday to outline the fee, which would be used to help municipal and county governments deal with the public cost of drilling.

In a brief interview, Scarnati, whose northwestern Pennsylvania district sits in the heart of shale drilling territory, said he’d only offer general details about his proposal, but would not be presenting formal, legislative language.

“It’s not a bill,” he said. “It’s a proposal for feedback.”

Scarnati’s chief of staff, Drew Crompton, said his boss would not be speaking for his caucus Thursday. A more formal proposal on behalf of Senate Republicans would come later.

“We’ve tried to incorporate everyone’s concerns,” Crompton said.

On Monday, Corbett said he’d be willing to look at whatever proposal lawmakers send him. In the past, the Republican has been adamant that none of the money raised from the fee go into the state’s general fund budget.

Jan Jarrett of the environmental group PennFuture said she’s sticking by her preference for a severance tax on drillers, arguing that the impacts from drilling reach far beyond the drilling area.

Jarrett said she favors a severance tax proposal put forth by Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, that would split the tax money three ways among local governments, the general fund budget and the Growing Greener environmental program.

Jarrett said she wants to “make sure all Pennsylvanians benefit from drilling.”

Such a scenario seems unlikely. Corbett has said he will not sign a severance tax bill.

Morning Call Harrisburg Reporter John L. Micek and Don Hopey and Laura Olson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette contributed to this story.