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Living With Fracking … Who’s in charge?

Gov. Tom Corbett reiterated Monday that a severance tax on natural gas drilling is off the table. He also addressed the question that has been on the minds of severance tax proponents by claiming that he would still oppose such a tax had he not received nearly $1 million in campaign contributions (The Nation claims that figure is closer to $1.5 million) from the industry. He argues that natural gas drilling is the only real growth industries in Pennsylvania and that a tax would hinder such growth.

His statements echo those of Lt. Gov. and Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission Chair Jim Cawley. The commission was created to investigate issues surrounding gas drilling and make recommendations to the governor. Cawley took off the table any discussions of a severance tax during the commission’s first meeting. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also reported that 19 of the commission’s 29 members donated anywhere from $200 to $411,000 toward Corbett’s campaign.

DCED, the Environment and DEP’s 35 Minute Response

Corbett also handed political ammunition to opponents of the gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” with his pick to head the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). Typically, DCED hands out grants to local communities to create jobs and improve quality of life. However, Pro-Publica reported that the Corbett’s DCED secretary (and Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission member), C. Alan Walker, enjoys broad authority to “expedite any permit or action pending in any agency where the creation of jobs may be impacted.” Presumably, this directly applies to natural gas permitting. Pro-Publica also documented Walker’s history of pushing for environmental deregulation, his companies’ history of pollution and his $184,000 in campaign contributions to Corbett since 2004. It should be noted that Walker has been generous with his wealth, particularly to the Clearfield area and his alma mater, Bucknell University, which earned him a service to humanity award from Bucknell in 1996.

The power granted to Walker to expedite permits sets up a potential political showdown between DCED and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). DEP has already ordered natural gas companies to refrain from dumping fracking water into public sewer systems, which are generally not designed to remove the chemicals used in the process. However, critics claim that Walker could use his authority to effectively override any environmental regulation.

On the other hand, DEP officials have admitted to spending as little as 35 minutes reviewing permits for new drilling in the state and only rejected 31 out of 7,019 permits. In closed hearings, staffers further admitted to lax oversight of drilling and a “fuzzy” understanding of the laws and regulations governing gas drilling. Still, the Scranton Times-Tribune reported significant numbers of DEP staffers – particularly in high-level positions – have been leaving the state for work with the drilling industry. This brings up the problem of iron triangles within political subsystems as regulators and the regulated exchange jobs. Iron triangle theory notes that it is common for the people operating in those subsystems to become too cozy and ultimately set regulation that benefit industry rather than citizens.

Stuck in the Middle

Caught in the middle are the citizens and landowners of Pennsylvania, many of whom are not even benefiting from a lease to a gas driller. On Tuesday night an accident on a drilling well allowed thousands of gallons of fracking fluid to flow across farm land and into a creek near the small town of Canton, Bradford County. In fact, last year the Times-Tribune made an open records request of DEP. According to the documents the paper obtained, there were hundreds of spills across Pennsylvania involving at least 92 drilling companies.

A late March Time Magazine article highlighted the sociological divide in the Marcellus Shale region. On one hand, there is Truman and Bonnie Burnett of Stroudsburg. They have a vacation home in Bradford County where fracking water from a neighboring property spilled, destroying a swath of forest and affecting their pond. The incessant hum from the drills ruins the point of having a vacation home and probably affects the property value.

On the other hand, there is Canton resident Dave DeCristo. He opened a gas station which took off in 2008 when the drillers became his customers. DeCristo has added dozens of employees in this economically depressed region. He also leased his land to drillers and has a well near his front door. DeCristo told Time that he feels blessed to have been able to grow his business due to the natural gas boom.

In another example, the Pa. Board of Game Commissioners accepted an $18 million proposal from drilling companies to drill on state game lands in Lycoming, Tioga and Bradford counties. The article notes that the commissioners could have rejected the deal and drillers would still have been able to access the gas by drilling from neighboring properties. The deal also allows one company to place three wells on Tioga County game lands. Hunting – the primary reason game lands exist – would be restricted around the wells. The company will also donate 585 acres of land to the Game Commission in McKean County, about a two hour drive away. In the past decade or so, the Game Commission has been cutting services as the General Assembly has declined to raise hunting license fees. The $18 million will help, but it would not cover the revenue that higher licensing fees would have generated in the past seven years.

And the next target may be the 117 state parks. The Nation notes that there is very little stopping Corbett from lifting former Gov. Ed Rendell’s moratorium on drilling in state parks and one former Rendell appointee, former Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary James Quigley told the magazine that Corbett would be inclined to lift the moratorium. Regardless, the article also points out that the state does not own the subsurface mineral rights at most of the state parks anyway so drillers could still lease neighboring properties and get to the gas anyway.

In short, the region and the state have to decide if all of that money is worth the declining quality of life and environmental impacts and adapt. There are even law firms specializing in injury claims related to drilling involving hydraulic fracturing.

Bad Gas?

Finally natural gas presents a conundrum for environmentalists. Natural gas produces less pollution and green house gas than fossil fuels like coal, oil and gasoline when burned. Obviously, the United States doesn’t have to import natural gas. Mr. DeCristo has some in his front yard apparently, so the geopolitics of oil are not a factor like they are in Europe. There is probably enough domestic natural gas to last the country for decades and possibly a century or more.

But the environmental benefits of natural gas might be limited at best. Cornell University professor Robert Howarth published a paper arguing that the methane gasses released by fracking actual contribute more to climate change than coal and oil extraction as well as more traditional natural gas extraction. It is important to note that Prof. Howarth was only looking at the extraction impacts and not the effects of natural gas consumption.

Another emerging concern among fracking opponents is the fear that the process could release the radioactive elements radium 226 and radium 228 into ground and drinking water sources. DEP announced March 7 that their tests showed no elevated levels of radium at seven sites they tested. Those tests should not be conflated with tests later in March that found low, but not unsafe, levels of iodine 131. Iodine 131 is most commonly associated with radioactive waste and the tests were conducted in the wake of Japan’s nuclear crisis.

In another development, Democrats on the US House Committee on Committee on Energy and Commerce released a report on materials used in fracking. The report details the various chemicals used in the process. Of the 750 chemicals documented, 29 are either known carcinogens or classified as pollutants under the Clean Water or Clean Air acts or both. The committee also reported that drillers have even tried instant coffee and walnut shells to get to the gas.

If only the walnut shells worked.

April 21, 2011 at 4:24 pm

--Chris McGann

Tags: Bradford County, C. Alan Walker, DCED, DCNR, DEP, fracking, Gov. Tom Corbett, Jim Cawley, marcellus shale

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