Yudichak has high hopes for tax on gas extraction
The Luzerne County Democrat claims bipartisan support in the state Senate.
State Sen. John T. Yudichak
State Sen. John T. Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, said Wednesday the natural gas severance tax he is proposing could generate more than $126 million in its first year and more than $406 million by 2016.
Yudichak announced the proposed tax on natural gas extraction at a press conference in Harrisburg on Wednesday, the day after he introduced the bill in the state Senate.
The estimated tax revenues are based on the number of gas wells currently in operation in the state and additional wells expected to be permitted in 2011, Yudichak said.
Revenue from the tax would be shared equally by three program areas:
• The Commonwealth Financing Authority for water supply, wastewater treatment, storm water and flood control projects;
• The Environmental Stewardship Fund (Growing Greener);
• Local governments in areas of Pennsylvania that experience direct effects of natural gas drilling.
“In areas where there is drilling activity, local governments are faced with a number of difficult issues,” Yudichak said. “Revenue from a severance tax will benefit those communities.”
Yudichak’s plan would impose a tax of 2 percent of the gross value of natural gas severed at the wellhead during the first three years of a well’s production, increasing to 5 percent after three years.
The tax rate would revert to 2 percent if a well’s rate of production fell below 150 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and to zero if it fell below 60 million cubic feet per day.
If implemented, the tax would take effect July 1.
A severance tax bill passed the state House last year under then Gov. Ed Rendell, a proponent of the tax on gas production, but the tax died in the Republican-controlled Senate. Gov. Tom Corbett opposes a severance tax.
Yudichak said his tax is different from last year’s effort both in its terms and in that it claims bipartisan support.
The bill is co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Edwin Erickson, R-Delaware County, and Yudichak said it has at least three Republican supporters.
“The fact that this bill has bipartisan support shows the need for this tax goes beyond partisan politics,” Erickson said Wednesday. “I believe this bill invests the tax revenues in a responsible way for the protection of our environment and the communities directly affected by the expanding natural gas industry.”
March 31, 2011
MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Yudichak_has_high_hopes_for_tax_on_gas_extraction_03-31-2011.html
Penn State seeks water-well owners for study on gas drilling effects
University Park, Pa. — Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences is seeking owners of private drinking-water wells near completed natural-gas wells in the Marcellus shale region to participate in a study of the impact of gas development.
Funded by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center, the study will assess the potential impacts of Marcellus gas drilling on rural drinking water wells, according to Bryan Swistock, extension water resources specialist. The data collected from the study is for research purposes and the education of each homeowner, he pointed out.
“Private water wells near completed Marcellus gas-well sites will be selected for free post-drilling water testing of 14 water-quality parameters,” Swistock said. He noted that to be eligible for this free, post-drilling water testing, participants must meet all of the following criteria:
— Own a private water well (no springs/cisterns can be included in the study).
— Have an existing Marcellus gas well (drilled and hydrofractured) within about 5,000 feet (one mile) of the water well.
— Had your water well tested by a state-accredited water laboratory before the Marcellus gas well was drilled and are willing to share a copy of those water-test results with Penn State researchers.
“Due to funding constraints, all eligible applicants cannot be promised inclusion in this study,” Swistock said. “Selection will be based on eligibility, geographic location and other factors.”
Participants selected for the study will benefit personally by receiving a free test of their home drinking water supply and information about the results of those tests, Swistock said. Residents with water wells that meet the research criteria above should visit the following website to indicate an interest in participating in this research study: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/marcellus.
March 18, 2011
http://live.psu.edu/story/52126#nw69
N.J. proposal would outlaw ‘fracking’ process for natural gas drilling near Delaware River
As the Delaware River Basin Commission works to establish a set of rules governing the natural gas drilling that is expected to boom in northeast Pennsylvania in the coming years, environmentalists are concerned that mining companies may find reason to cross the river and set up shop in New Jersey as well.
Critics say wastewater produced by these gas wells contains harmful substances and poses a threat to towns up and down the Delaware River in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey.
Meanwhile, lawmakers on the state and federal levels have started to react by sponsoring legislation that would close regulatory loopholes that would allow the drilling. One bill proposed in New Jersey would outlaw the process known as hydraulic fracturing entirely.
Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is a drilling technique in which a mix of water, sand, and chemicals is injected into the well bore at high pressure to crack the rock, allowing natural gas to flow more freely.
The process has been used extensively in western Pennsylvania in a previously inaccessible underground rock formation called the Marcellus Shale.
Advances in technology, including fracking, have allowed drilling companies to access the gas-rich formation in ways previously impossible.
Critics, however, say the wastewater generated from fracking poses a serious public health risk. Some of the water has been allowed to be treated at municipal sewage treatment plants that some experts say are not capable of remediating the chemicals found in the fluid.
So far, in the Delaware River Basin, wastewater from only one municipal sewage treatment facility, 30 miles west of Trenton in Hatfield, Pa., has found its way into the Delaware. The treated wastewater was released over a one year period into the Neshaminy Creek, which drains into the Delaware south of Trenton.
When combined with chlorine, a chemical typically used to treat drinking water, some of the compounds found in the waste can form potentially cancerous agents. Recent studies have also found unhealthy levels of radium and uranium.
The radioactive elements, which can be found deep underground, have in some cases been brought to the surface after fracking.
While drilling companies have primarily focused on extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, some environmentalists warn that a second, potentially gas-rich shale formation lies deep beneath a section of northwest New Jersey as well.
Known at the Utica or Martinsburg shale, authorities said it was simply a matter of time before gas companies begin pointing their drill bits at areas around the Kittatinny Mountains, north of the Delaware Water Gap.
According to Terry Engelder, a geosciences professor with Penn State University’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, the Utica formation is close to the surface in Ohio and New Jersey but dips much deeper underground in Pennsylvania. A section of the formation is exposed above ground around Port Jervis, N.Y., he added.
“The Utica formation hits the Kittatinnies up by High Point and comes into Bucks County, so fracking could come a lot closer to home than people realize,” said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
While drilling into the Utica Shale, which sits between 7,000 and 3,000 feet below the Marcellus, may prove more costly and challenging to access, experts like Conrad Volz, director of the Center for Health, Environments, and Community at the University of Pittsburgh, said it was inevitable that energy companies would set their sights on northern New Jersey.
“‘Might’ is not the question. The question is ‘when,” Volz said. “It’s all a matter of economics. It’s also a matter of capital and operational ability.”
Meanwhile, officials with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said the state currently has no regulations on natural gas exploration.
“There is no natural gas drilling that’s going on, so it’s really not been an issue,” DEP spokesman Larry Ragonese said.
While Volz and Tittel are concerned drilling may come to New Jersey, Engelder said the potential to find natural gas here is low.
“There are indications that the Utica shale is going to be productive west of the Marcellus, so that’s the bombshell,” he said, “but I believe it’s very unlikely that anyplace in New Jersey the Utica will have a potential for being a gas shale.”
He said the rock in this area has been exposed to too much heat underground.
“The rock has been subjected to too high a temperature and the gas shale becomes burned toast,” he said. “I’m very confident of that.”
Still, Volz said that without concrete knowledge as to whether gas is present in the formation, companies could still attempt to drill exploratory wells in the region.
State and federal lawmakers have been raising the alarm about the potential for gas drilling in the region.
Bills recently introduced in the U.S. House and Senate by New Jersey lawmakers aim to close loopholes for natural gas drillers that have been written into federal environmental regulations.
The Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, would amend the Safe Drinking Water Act’s definition of “underground injection” to include fluids used for hydraulic fracturing, which would force gas drilling operations to meet Safe Drinking Water Act standards. It would also require public disclosure of the chemicals used in the process.
“There have been too many reports of contamination by fracking operations to let the practice continue without better oversight,” Lautenberg said in a statement earlier this month. “When it comes to our drinking water, safety must be the top priority.”
“People have a right to know if chemicals are being injected into the ground near their homes and potentially ending up in the water supply. This bill will ensure that the (EPA) has the tools to assess the risks of fracking and require appropriate protections so that drinking water in New Jersey and other states is safe,” he said.
In the House, Rep. Rush Holt, D-12th District, was among three congressmen who introduced the Bringing Reductions to Energy’s Airborne Toxic Health Effects (BREATHE) Act this month.
Holt’s office said the legislation aims to close a loophole in the Clean Air Act that exempts oil and gas rigs from certain air quality standards. It also adds hydrogen sulfide, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, to the act’s list of hazardous pollutants.
“Extracting natural gas should not threaten public health or pollute our water,” Holt said in a statement. “As the ranking Democrat on the Natural Resource Committee’s Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, I strongly support legislation to close loopholes that shield fracking from basin environmental protection regulations.”
“Our loyalties shouldn’t be with oil and gas companies — our loyalties should be with families affected by fracking,” he said.
On the state level, Sen. Linda Greenstein, D-Plainsboro, was among three legislators to sponsor a bill last year outlawing hydraulic fracturing completely in New Jersey.
Published: March 28, 2011
By Matt Fair/The Times
Contact Matt Fair at mfair@njtimes.com or at (609) 989-5707
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2011/03/lawmakers_seek_to_ban_fracking.html
LV Sierra Club chairman urges people to oppose fracking
BETHLEHEM | Drilling in the Marcellus Shale could make drinking water in the Lehigh Valley flammable, radioactive and full of cancer-causing chemicals, according to the chairman of the Sierra Club of the Lehigh Valley.
Don Miles, chairman of the local Sierra Club, said hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” will pollute wells and rivers in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York and New Jersey if it’s allowed to continue unchecked.
“The Marcellus natural gas drilling boom is the greatest natural threat to Pennsylvania in the last 50 years,” Miles said to a classroom of mostly senior citizens at Northampton Community College on Tuesday morning.
Fracking is the process of extracting natural gas by drilling a well and pumping it full of highly pressurized liquid. The liquid causes rock to fracture, releasing natural gas for companies to collect. The practice has been commonplace for years in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and other western states.
In the past few years, companies have focused on the Marcellus Shale, a rock formation spanning from West Virginia to New York. Experts estimate it could hold as much as $1 trillion worth of natural gas.
Environmental advocates claim the pressurized liquid contains carcinogens. Pumping it underground to break rock formations could allow natural gas and cancer-causing agents to mix with drinking water, Miles said. On top of that, the Marcellus Shale has radium, a naturally occurring radioactive element, Miller said. He cited a New York Times article that found radioactive fracking waste in the Monongahela River, which provides drinking water to roughly 800,000.
While the Marcellus Shale does not extend into Lehigh or Northampton counties, Miles said, the Delaware and Lehigh rivers extend into those areas and face possible pollution. Those rivers provide the drinking water for much of the Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia, he said.
However, officials in the natural gas industry insist there is no documented case of fracking causing ground water contamination.
Travis Windle, spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, pointed to recent comments from Taury Smith, New York’s state official geologist, as proof. In a March 14 interview with The Albany Times-Union, Smith said the reported cases of well contamination near fracking sites were caused by unrelated factors.
“Hydraulic fracturing has a long and clear record of environmental safety,” Windle said.
Miles urged members of the audience to write their state representatives asking for strict regulations on fracking or to at least tax the gas companies. Pennsylvania is the only state allowing natural gas drilling without a tax, he said.
“I never thought we’d have Pennsylvania trying to emulate the high environmental standards of West Virginia,” Miles said sarcastically.
March 24, 2011
By Tom Shortell
The Express-Times
Reporter Tom Shortell can be reached at 610-258-7171, ext. 3581, or tshortell@express-times.com.
Penn State Professor Discusses Marcellus Shale and Water Quality
Bryan Swistock, Ph.D., spoke at the Lehigh Valley Watershed Conference at Lehigh University March 11.
Bryan Swistock, Ph.D.
Although the Lehigh Valley does not sit atop the Marcellus Shale, the extraction of natural gas from this geological formation in other parts of Pennsylvania was a hot topic at the recent Lehigh Valley Watershed Conference.
The conference, held at Lehigh University’s Packard Lab March 11, attracted dozens of environmentalists, naturalists, elected officials, fishermen, academics and businesspeople to hear speakers like Bruce Swistock, Ph.D., who delivered a “Report on Marcellus Shale and Water Quality Across Pennsylvania.”
Introduced by Lehigh professor of earth and environmental science Frank Pazzaglia, Ph.D., Swistock is a professor with Penn State University’s Water Resources Extension and a leading authority on the impact of fracking on water quality in the Keystone State.
That impact has grown as the number of gas wells has grown exponentially since 2007, he pointed out.
In 2007, there were just 27 wells in Pennsylvania. In 2008, there were 161 wells; in 2009, there were 785 wells; and in 2010, there were 1,213 wells, primarily throughout rural central and northern Pennsylvania.
“It’s really our old gas drilling on steroids,” he said. “Everything is much, much bigger.”
In some parts of the state, where the Marcellus Shale formation is very thick, some residents have literally become “overnight millionaires” from selling drilling rights to natural gas extraction companies, with lease rates of $6,000 to $7,000 per acre and royalties of 20 to 25 percent, Swistock said.
Along with the direct impacts from drilling, emotion over the benefits versus the environmental consequences of natural gas drilling has increased dramatically, Swistock told his audience.
“In the last three years I’ve done dozens of programs where there are police,” he said, adding that in areas where drilling isn’t permitted people tend to be angry that they’re forbidden from tapping into the voluminous natural gas reserves 5,000 to 10,000 feet beneath their properties. In areas where gas drilling is permitted, people tend to be angrier over the prevalence and impact of drilling, he said.
“People who have their own water supplies are very concerned about what Marcellus might do to their groundwater,” he said. “Nobody knows exactly how many wells will be drilled when this is all said and done.”
In terms of regulations, Pennsylvania lags behind, with many of its regulations for Marcellus Shale drilling dating from 1984, Swistock said.
For example, the bonds required to cover the cost of water supply replacement are only equal to $2,500, he said.
There are no regulations on seismic testing in Pennsylvania and 3D seismic testing with dynamite is allowed without setbacks, he added.
When it comes to water quality in the areas surrounding where drilling is occurring, the issues related to Marcellus Shale are numerous, he continued.
Sediments and detergents may be used in the fracking process–a process which can result in waste fluids containing “very high” levels of radionuclides, including radium and uranium, being brought to the surface, Swistock said.
Benzine–a carcinogen–has also been found in waste fluids associated with fracking, with an average of four to five million gallons of fresh water needed for each horizontal well drilled, Swistock said.
In many cases access to the water needed for fracking is under landowner control, and although property owners can’t legally sell their water in Pennsylvania, they can charge a trespass fee to individuals accessing it, Swistock explained.
Of the 50 states, Alaska and Pennsylvania “are the only two states that don’t regulate private water systems at all,” Swistock said, referencing the wells from which most people in rural parts of the state obtain their drinking water. “We find that only about 5 percent of the water wells we tested have sanitary construction that would be required in 48 other states.”
For residents whose private wells are located near fracking sites “the only way you can really prove a water supply problem is if you have pre-drilling and post-drilling data,” he added.
This is especially true because many wells were never tested before Marcellus Shale drilling began and may have had “pre-existing” problems such as methane contamination, making it difficult to know if the methane in them is the result of methane gas migration from nearby fracking operations, he said.
For wells located within 1,000 feet of a gas well and tested within six months of drilling, there is a “presumed responsibility” on the part of those drilling for gas, he said.
Swistock cautioned against pulling YouTube-type stunts such as lighting a faucet on fire, which he said can be done if high levels of methane are contaminating the water supply.
“It’s a very dangerous thing to do,” he commented.
For homeowners who want to test and monitor their wells there are devices available, but they can be expensive, he added.
“I’ve had a lot of people at programs crying because they want to protect their water but they can’t afford testing,” he said. “They feel very helpless.”
“There are no easy answers,” he concluded, before answering questions from audience members.
Among the entities sponsoring the watershed conference were the Watershed Coalition of the Lehigh Valley, the Northampton County Conservation District, Wildlands Conservancy the Lehigh County Conservation District, the Saucon Creek Watershed Association, Lower Macungie Township and Lower Saucon Township.
By Josh Popichak
March 21, 2011
http://hellertown.patch.com/articles/penn-state-professor-discusses-marcellus-shale-and-water-quality
State penalizes drilling waste firms
HARRISBURG — State environmental regulators took action Monday against a pair of southwestern Pennsylvania businesses operated by a man charged last week with dumping gas drilling waste and sludge illegally.
The Department of Environmental Protection issued administrative orders against R. Allan Shipman, Tri County Waste Water Service Inc. and Allan’s Waste Water Service Inc.
The orders suspended operation of Tri County’s wastewater facility and suspended the authorization of Allan’s Waste to collect, transport or store solid waste.
Shipman, 49, and Allan’s Waste Water Service of Holbrook were both charged last week with dozens of criminal counts for, among other things, allegedly dumping millions of gallons of wastewater into streams and mine shafts.
The administrative order against Allan’s Waste and Shipman said they were responsible for the illegal depositing of gas well production water, sewage sludge, grease trap water and other wastewater onto the ground, underground or in state waterways.
Christopher Capozzi, a lawyer for Allan’s Waste, declined to comment.
March 22, 2011
http://www.timesleader.com/news/State_penalizes_drilling_waste_firms_03-22-2011.html
Lautenberg Supports Natural Gas Fracking Bill
Both Senate and House lawmakers have offered versions of the legislation that was introduced in 2009.
U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) has joined Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) in introducing legislation, S.587, to establish basic health protections that must be met when gas companies use hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract underground natural gas.
The large number of gas drilling operations in Pennsylvania’s Delaware River Valley could threaten the source of drinking water for millions of New Jersey residents.
“There have been too many reports of contamination by fracking operations to let the practice continue without better oversight,” stated Lautenberg. “When it comes to our drinking water, safety must be the top priority. People have a right to know if chemicals are being injected into the ground near their homes and potentially ending up in the water supply. This bill will ensure that the Environmental Protection Agency has the tools to assess the risks of fracking and require appropriate protections so that drinking water in New Jersey and other states is safe.”
Security Products 2011 Virtual Event
Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.), and Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) sponsored the House version of the bill (H.R. 1084) with 31 cosponsors.
The “Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act,” introduced in the Senate on March 15, would:
* amend the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) definition of “underground injection” to include the underground injection of fluids used for hydraulic fracturing operations related to oil and gas production activities; and
* require public disclosure of the chemicals used in the fracturing process.
The fracking process involves injecting millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals into underground rock formations to blast them open and release natural gas. Fracking chemicals themselves can be hazardous, and the process can release naturally occurring hazardous substances such as arsenic and mercury as well as other heavy metals and radioactive materials from underground. The drilling wastewater, which has been found to contain radioactive substances, is often released into rivers that supply drinking water.
Similar legislation was introduced in 2009. According to Earthworks, the practice of fracking has expanded to 34 states since then.
“Energy development doesn’t have to threaten our drinking water and our communities’ health,” said John Fenton, a rancher from Pavillion, Wyo., where the U.S. EPA has warned some residents to stop drinking water from wells contaminated with arsenic and other chemicals associated with drilling and fracking. “We just want the oil and gas industry to follow the rules like everyone else,” said Fenton, a board member of the Powder River Basin Resource Council.
“How can we allow drillers to use hundreds of thousands of gallons of fluids with cancer-causing chemicals near our homes and schools without even telling us what they’re using?” asked Gwen Lachelt, director for Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability Project, which is working nationwide in communities impacted by drilling. “The public deserves to know what chemicals are used so they can protect their families and industry can be held accountable when problems occur. Without the FRAC Act, drillers will continue to get a free ride.”
Source: Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Earthworks
Mar 21, 2011
http://eponline.com/articles/2011/03/21/lautenberg-supports-natural-gas-fracking-bill.aspx
Pa. citizens have constitutional right to clean air, pure water
JOHNSTOWN — “We have met the enemy and they is us,” said the comic character Pogo.
Ed Smith
Both political parties sponsored candidates for governor who accepted campaign money from the gas drilling industry – an industry they would be required to regulate if elected.
The Republican candidate, Tom Corbett, received more than $1 million from 15 or more gas drillers and was elected. He then appointed an owner of a drilling company to head his transition team and has appointed his own man as secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection.
He has said he intends to reopen state forests and parks to more gas drilling, reversing the decision of his predecessor. The DEP’s website says that the department wants to be a “partner” with those it regulates. (Imagine an IRS examiner telling a taxpayer he wants to be a “partner,” or the building inspector telling the building contractor, whose work he inspects, that he wants to be a “partner.”)
Pennsylvania is said to be the only state that does not tax the gas drilling industry, the only state that permits gas drilling frack waste (said to be one of the most dangerous substances on Earth) to go into municipal sewage treatment plants – that cannot treat the highly toxic rock-dissolving chemicals and acids – which is then discharged to rivers and streams, and is anticipating more than 50,000 new gas wells in the next 20 years.
People of both parties must demand more than simply victory at the polls. Pennsylvania deserves better. Political leaders and the political process have failed to provide ethical, responsible government.
The New York Times, in a recent Sunday front page story titled “Regulation Lax as Gas Well’s Tainted Water Hits Rivers,” reveals that Environmental Protection Agency scientists warn that drilling waste is a threat to drinking water in Pennsylvania. The Times has learned that the level of radioactivity in frack wastewater is many hundreds or thousands times the maximum allowed by federal standards for drinking water, and that there is no testing for radioactivity at water treatment plants or sewage treatment plants.
Drinking water intakes are often downstream from sewage treatment plants.
The Times calls Pennsylvania “ground zero” and said the state is “overwhelmed and under-prepared.” The Times quotes Corbett’s reason for not taxing the drilling industry, “Regulation (of the gas drilling industry that has been charged with polluting wells, streams, rivers and water tables) has been too aggressive.”
The governor’s webpage lists housing, family services, jobs, economic development, education and senior care – all of which are valid concerns but none of which are constitutional law requirements of the governor’s office.
Environmental protection is the only constitutional mandate of the governor, and it is omitted from the webpage.
Pennsylvania is one of four states that have an Environmental Bill of Rights adopted as amendments to their constitutions. The others are Illinois, Montana and Hawaii.
Pennsylvania’s Environmental Bill of Rights was approved by bipartisan majority vote of two successive sessions of the Legislature and was overwhelmingly approved by the citizens. It became law on May 18, 1971. Gas drilling with fracking is the biggest environmental threat since.
Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution provides: “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As Trustees of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”
This amendment was adopted because Pennsylvania citizens, who still live with the mining impact of 100 years ago, believed that destruction of the environment was an unacceptable price for economic gain. It still is. The intent of the amendment was to prevent environmental harm – not measure and manage it.
When Corbett took the oath of office on Jan. 18, 2011, and became the 46th governor of Pennsylvania, he said, “I do solemnly swear that I will support, obey and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this Commonwealth and that I will discharge the duties of my office with fidelity.”
As a lawyer and former attorney general, he understands the oath and duty. So do legislators and judges.
John C. Dernbach, a professor at Widener University’s School of Law and constitutional researcher, points out that Pennsylvania’s environmental constitutional amendment makes environmental protection part of the constitutional purpose of state government. The environment is given the same legal protection afforded to individual property rights and, balanced against those rights, is directed toward environmentally sustainable development.
The public trust part obliges the state to conserve and maintain public natural resources for the benefit of all people. The state is obligated to ensure that consideration and protection of constitutional values concerning the environment are made part of all state decision-making.
Constitutional law is there to prevent environmental degradation.
State officials, especially the governor, have a moral, ethical, legal and fiduciary responsibility, as trustees of state resources, to protect those resources for the beneficiaries – and that is the highest duty under the law.
Pennsylvania citizens, and future generations, are the beneficiaries – not foreign gas drilling companies, their stockholders or those they fund. A fiduciary is legally bound to act within the law in the best interests of the beneficiaries. Citizens are entitled to a state government that accepts, as its first responsibility, the duty to carry out constitutional law.
Natural resources are the common property of all the people, now and forevermore. The governor’s legal constitutional duty is to conserve and maintain those resources for all – not just for the gas drilling industry.
Pennsylvania is not for sale.
March 21, 2011
Ed Smith of Jackson Township is a retired city and county manager.
http://tribune-democrat.com/editorials/x449496875/Pa-citizens-have-constitutional-right-to-clean-air-pure-water
Natural gas tax could hurt Pa
Gov. Tom Corbett sloughed off a poll Thursday that shows Pennsylvanians opposed to his steep education funding cuts and in favor of taxing the natural gas industry, arguing the tax would not end state budget woes but could alienate “a cornerstone of the future.”
“We didn’t campaign based on polls; we’re not governing based on polls,” Corbett said during a news conference after an appearance at the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce. “It’s not what we were elected to do.”
Corbett opposes the natural gas severance tax and his proposed 2011-12 budget cuts funding for public schools, higher education, public libraries and other education-related entities by $1.5 billion, or 15 percent.
A Franklin & Marshall College poll released Wednesday showed more than three-fifths of residents favor taxing natural gas production while more than three quarters oppose the education cuts.
Critics of Corbett’s budget argue a natural gas tax would not chase away the industry because Pennsylvania is the only state with no local or state severance tax and companies will not leave billions of dollars in potential profits in the ground.
But Corbett said he fears the industry will transfer gas well-drilling equipment and money for investment to other states where severance taxes on gas extraction might be lower if Pennsylvania imposes a severance tax on gas.
“It’s important to get this industry rooted in Pennsylvania,” he told reporters.
“I want them building their headquarters here,” he said during his speech to about 50 chamber members.
Corbett specifically defended the higher education cuts, which Penn State University President Graham Spanier has said could lead to higher tuition and closing of some Penn State satellite campuses.
“It’s Spanier that’s taking the fight to the students,” Corbett said. “He’s the one that, when hearing the budget, immediately said, ‘We’re going to put this on the backs of the students,’ where he’s been putting it the entire time.”
Over the last decade, Penn State has received $3.5 billion in state money while more than doubling tuition, the governor said.
“Who’s putting it on the back of the students?” he said.
Corbett said the painful cuts are necessary because of the $4.3 billion budget deficit he inherited from Gov. Ed Rendell, whose natural gas tax proposal, he noted, would have produced only $170 million next year.
“I think people lose sight of that,” he said of the inherited deficit. “That’s what I can’t lose sight of.”
Corbett reminded the chamber audience his budget is only a proposal and said he would listen to amendments, but said the bottom line for spending will be his proposed $27.3 billion.
“The final number of spending will not be above $27.3 billion or I will not sign the budget,” he said.
Corbett dismissed the argument that he did not ask businesses and corporations to sacrifice in his budget.
“First off, businesses and corporations have been sacrificing,” he said. “Their business has been so far down that they haven’t been able to employ people. … I’m not sure what you mean by them sacrificing. Does that mean more taxes? Well, you know where I am on more taxes.”
Corbett pointed to the elimination in his budget of legislative initiative grants – legislators’ money for special projects – that often went to companies.
Corbett’s budget reduces funding for the Department of Economic and Community Development – the source of many grants and loans for corporate and business development by $114 million, or more than a third of its 2010-2011 level. Much of that was money provided by one-time federal economic stimulus money.
“We have many corporations that come to us that are always asking us for more money,” the governor said. “We’re going to look at those very carefully. We have to reduce the spending there. And we have to let the free enterprise system work.”
Corbett told the chamber audience no one should be surprised that he opposes raising taxes because he promised that while campaigning for the office.
“I came straight out with what I said I’m going to do,” he said.
Corbett said the $20 million in funding that Rendell promised for renovating Lackawanna County remains under review. He declined to say if there is reason to think he would not approve the money.
“I’ve been so busy with this budget, that’s one that I haven’t really sat down and looked at,” he said.
Corbett also said he will name a transportation task force to examine ways of paying for transportation projects and mass transit within 30 days.
March 18, 2011
by Borys Krawczeniuk (Staff Writer)
bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com
http://citizensvoice.com/news/corbett-natural-gas-tax-could-hurt-pa-1.1120478#axzz1GxRsqoZJ
Frack Water Safety Debated
Bill to require drillers to disclose chemicals goes before Congress
WHEELING – Federal legislators Robert Casey and Diana DeGette believe hydraulic fracturing may contaminate drinking water during the natural gas drilling process.
But Marcellus Shale Coalition President Kathryn Klaber said Congress has no business regulating drilling via the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act.
The bill, commonly known as the FRAC Act, was introduced by U.S. Sen. Casey, D-Pa., and Congresswoman DeGette, D-Colo., in each chamber this week. The legislation is similar to a bill of the same name that died last year.
“Pennsylvanians have a right to know the chemicals used in fracking that could make their way into drinking water and other water sources,” said Casey.
“The FRAC Act takes necessary but reasonable steps to ensure our nation’s drinking water is protected, and that as fracking operations continue to expand, communities can be assured that the economic benefits of natural gas are not coming at the expense of the health of their families,” added DeGette.
The bill’s sponsors say the FRAC Act would:
• Require disclosure of the chemicals used in fracking, but not the proprietary chemical formula. This would be similar to how a soft drink producer must reveal the ingredients of their product, but not the specific formula;
• Repeal a provision added to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 exempting the industry from complying with the Safe Drinking Water Act. Some anti-fracking advocates have commonly referred to this 2005 provision as the “Halliburton Loophole.”
The act would also provide power to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to require drillers to have an employee, knowledgeable in responding to emergency situations, present at the well at all times during the exploration or drilling phase.
Klaber, though, said state officials are best equipped to regulate fracking and drilling. However, the West Virginia Legislature did not adopt proposed regulations for natural gas drilling – including chemical disclosures for fracking – in the recently concluded regular session.
“Because of tight regulations and laws in place, coupled with the commitment from industry to protect the environment, there’s never been a single case of groundwater contamination associated with fracturing …,” Klaber said.
Lee Fuller, executive director of Energy In Depth, went further than Klaber, saying the FRAC Act is “based on fundamentally incorrect information,” noting the Safe Drinking Water Act was never used to regulate fracking.
“Its backers say it’s about forcing companies to disclose the composition of the … solution that’s not water and sand, even though just about every state regulatory agency in the country will attest that such information is already available,” Fuller added.
Officials with Chesapeake Energy said about 99.5 percent of the 5.6 million gallons of fluid used to frack a typical well consists of water and sand.
However, if 0.5 percent of the 5.6 million gallons used for a normal well consists of materials other than water and sand, that means 28,000 gallons of chemicals found in products such as antifreeze, laundry detergent and deodorant are pumped deep into the ground at high pressure for each fracking job the company performs.
According to Chesapeake, the company’s most common fracking solution contains 0.5 percent worth of chemicals. These include:
• hydrochloric acid – found in swimming pool cleaner, and used to help crack the rock;
• ethylene glycol – found in antifreeze, and used to prevent scale deposits in the pipe;
• isopropanol – found in deodorant, and used to reduce surface tension;
• glutaraldehyde – found in disinfectant, and used to eliminate bacteria;
• petroleum distillate – found in cosmetics, and used to minimize friction;
• guar gum – found in common household products, and used to suspend the sand;
• ammonium persulfate – found in hair coloring, and used to delay the breakdown of guar gum;
• formamide – found in pharmaceuticals, and used to prevent corrosion of the well casing;
• borate salts – found in laundry detergent, and used to maintain fluid viscosity under high temperatures;
• citric acid – found in soft drinks, and used to prevent precipitation of metal;
• potassium chloride – found in medicine and salt substitutes, and used to prevent fluid from interacting with soil;
• sodium or potassium carbonate – found in laundry detergent, and used to balance acidic substances.
March 17, 2011 – By CASEY JUNKINS
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