Pennsylvania’s governor outlines what he won’t let companies drilling for gas do.
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Corbett__No_forced_pooling_04-27-2011.html
Posted: April 27, 2011
Corbett: No forced pooling
MARC LEVY
PITTSBURGH — Gov. Tom Corbett told a crowd from the region’s booming natural gas industry Tuesday that Pennsylvania needs its help to climb out of the recession, but he also warned that he would aggressively enforce environmental laws and that he opposes a controversial change in law sought by drilling companies.
“Forced pooling” is tantamount to private eminent domain, and he doesn’t agree with it, Corbett told the seminar crowd in suburban Pittsburgh, which is a fast becoming a hub for multinational energy companies exploring the Marcellus and Utica shales beneath Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
“I’m sure there’s many here, many here that would like to see” forced pooling for Marcellus Shale gas, he said. And then he told what he called “maybe a dirty little secret” about companies that say they would be willing to pay a severance tax that is the subject of much debate in the state Legislature.
“They never add the caveat that I know that many of the companies that have gone to Harrisburg have said, ’Yeah, we’ll take the tax if we get certain things in regulation, including the forced pooling,’” Corbett said.
Forced pooling is on the books in some other states and can be used to force holdout landowners to lease their below-ground gas rights under certain conditions. The issue, at the top of the industry’s wish list since at least last year, has gained little traction in the Legislature. Companies say it would help limit the number of roads and wells built to extract gas.
Corbett also opposes a severance tax on gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale, the nation’s largest-known gas reservoir.
On Tuesday, he reiterated his stance against it, and tried to underscore the urgency of competing for the industry’s money and equipment. The Marcellus Shale beneath Pennsylvania is one of six natural gas deposits vying to offer the best return on investment for energy companies, he said.
“I need, we need, Pennsylvania needs the jobs today to get out of this recession,” he said.
Pennsylvania is the nation’s largest natural-gas producing state that does not tax the activity.
Corbett, who said the media would call Tuesday’s crowd of several hundred a “friendly audience,” accepted nearly $1 million in donations to his gubernatorial campaign from people in the natural gas industry.
However, he closed his 35-minute speech by promising to vigorously enforce environmental laws and saying he will use his power to grant drilling permits to punish companies, if necessary.
“I know how to get the attention of your CEOs, whether they be here in Pennsylvania or in Oklahoma or in Texas or in Louisiana, and that’s through the permit,” Corbett said.
He spoke a week after he asked natural gas drillers to stop one of their most troubling environmental practices: taking polluted wastewater from gas wells to riverside treatment plants that aren’t equipped to remove all the contaminants.
The audience heard numerous warnings about losing the public relations battle over the industry’s environmental record and the possibility of stronger regulations, both on the federal level and in states from Texas to West Virginia.
Drawing gas from shale deep underground is being touted by the industry as a major new source of cheap, homegrown energy, thanks to the recent combination high-volume hydraulic fracturing and the new technique of horizontal drilling. Nearly 3,000 wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale.
However, hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has sparked concern from some environmental groups and public officials, particularly as people in drilling communities in Texas, Pennsylvania and elsewhere come forward with tales of contaminated air and well water. It also has drawn scrutiny from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.