Pennsylvania Environmental Council

Today Governor Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission has released its recommendations for managing the state’s burgeoning natural gas industry.  The Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) is encouraged by the fact that there was consensus among Commission members on a majority of measures surrounding environmental protection and public health and safety.  Many of these recommendations were originally proposed by PEC earlier this year and were introduced to the Commission by PEC chairman Tony Bartolomeo.

So now it’s time to act.  And act fast.

We’ve been discussing and debating Marcellus Shale legislation and regulations for more than two years.  And with each passing day, the Department of Environmental Protection approves permit applications for new wells to be drilled somewhere in Pennsylvania.  The people of Pennsylvania have waited patiently for their elected officials to lead on this issue.  While PEC does not support every recommendation in the Commission Report, there are a significant number of recommendations that did achieve consensus and which deserve immediate attention.

With this consensus among industry and environmental community interests, as well as the DEP, on how to better regulate Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale gas industry, the time has come for the Governor and legislature to put this plan into action.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council calls on Governor Corbett to request a special session of the General Assembly for the express purpose of enacting legislation that will govern the development of natural gas from Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale.

Specifically, we believe this legislation should amend the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Act as follows:

• Incorporate all applicable environmental protection recommendations outlined in the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission’s report.

• Expand the permitting process to allow for the option of regional comprehensive planning, in advance of individual site approvals, as a means to reduce surface and cumulative impacts of regional importance.

• Give DEP the authority to deny permits based on impacts to public resources; and expand the list of public resources to include additional sensitive ecological areas such as designated high quality or exceptional value waters.

• Ensure that DEP has sufficient authority to quickly adapt policies and controls in response to new technologies or information that are still unknown.

While the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission report touches upon issues that go beyond the purview of the Oil & Gas Act and in themselves require immediate attention, we believe it is now clear that meaningful and effective legislative updates to the Act can be accomplished quickly this fall. The path has been made clear – we must act now.

Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission Members:
Matthew J. Ehrhart, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Anthony S. Bartolomeo, Pennsylvania Environmental Council
Ronald L. Ramsey, The Nature Conservancy
Cynthia Carrow, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

Last week, members of Governor Tom Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission reviewed and voted on almost one-hundred policy recommendations which will be announced by the Governor today. Those recommendations will be considered in crafting future policy and regulatory guidance to assist the Commonwealth in how to best move forward and manage natural gas drilling operations. The final recommendations, the “Report of the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission” was presented to the Governor earlier today.   The four environmental representatives on the Commission today release the following statement:

“As representatives of the four environmental organizations appointed to the Commission, we appreciated the opportunity to serve in this capacity and took our role seriously as we presented the group with real environmentally-focused concerns and scenarios.

While we, collectively and individually, did not support every recommendation that will be contained in the report,  we agree that a number of the recommendations—including several dealing with environmental issues—propose significant  improvements in state law and policy intended to effect better management of the shale gas industry.

The report will propose, among other things:

• meaningful expansion of well site setbacks from surface waters and  wetlands, water supplies, floodplains, and structures;
• increased bonding and penalties for operators; enhanced public disclosure of well reports and enforcement activities;
• mandated site inspection;
• greater information gathering and analysis in the permitting process;
• improved tracking and reporting of hydraulic fluids and wastewater;
• measures designed to improve protection of vulnerable wildlife species and important ecological areas;
• using revenue from an impact fee for community-based environmental, conservation and recreation projects;
• improved siting of pipelines; and
• greater restrictions to protect public resources.

Many of these recommendations meet or exceed previously proposed changes to the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Act identified by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

In addition to these important environmental considerations, we also agree about the need for increased attention to the protection of human health.  The report recommends a number of actions involving the Department of Public Health obtaining, evaluating, and reporting on public health findings. We encourage the General Assembly to work collaboratively with local groups to develop additional safeguards to protect the residents of the Commonwealth.

We share concern, however, about several recommendations contained in the report.  Among these concerns are:

• potential threats to the integrity of the State’s Oil and Gas Lease Fund;
• lack of clear environmental or surface impact reduction standards relating to the concept of pooling;
• failure to specifically include Growing Greener or the Environmental Stewardship Fund in the impact fee provisions;
• adding natural gas to Tier II of the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards; and
• no clear prohibition on surface impacts from future state forest land leasing.

We consider the report to be a meaningful first step toward improving Pennsylvania’s oversight of shale gas extraction, but additional improvements must be accomplished as the debate shifts to the General Assembly.  We will continue to promote action to address these concerns in coming months. It is imperative that the General Assembly and Governor adopt –no later than the end of this year – a meaningful and comprehensive reform of Pennsylvania’s management of this wide-scale industry.   We look forward to working with the Administration, General Assembly, and all stakeholders on the future consideration of recommendations in the report and additional matters related to the management of shale gas development in Pennsylvania.”