To: Editorial Board Writers and Environmental Reporters
From: David Masur, PennEnvironment; Jeff Schmidt, Sierra Club; Ryan Talbott, Allegheny Defense Project;
Re: State Proposes Lifting Ban on Oil and Gas Drilling in Pennsylvania State Forests
We are writing to ask you to editorialize against a current proposal by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) to lift the ban on oil and gas drilling in Pennsylvania's 2.1 million acres of state forestlands.
DCNR is moving forward with this proposal as part of its five-year forest management plan for Pennsylvania's state forest system. The public comment period on this proposal ends on October 31, 2007. With little public awareness about this proposal, we hope that you will cover this issue and inform the state's residents about this controversial plan.
Pennsylvania's state forests are essential for healthy rivers and streams; providing safe drinking water supplies for communities downstream; preserving undisturbed wildlife habitat for the Commonwealth's native species; and offering recreational opportunities for millions of Pennsylvanians and Americans.
In 2002, then-Secretary of DCNR John Oliver proposed opening nearly 25% of Pennsylvania?s state forests to deep gas well drilling. Under an intense pressure and a vocal backlash from concerned Pennsylvanians, elected officials, and the media, DCNR properly opted against moving ahead with this proposal.
In its place, incoming DCNR Secretary Mike DiBerardinis implemented a new policy in 2003 to discontinue shallow oil and gas drilling in Pennsylvania's 2.1 million acres of state forestlands, arguing that shallow drilling posed a greater environmental threat to our state forests than deep well drilling.
Now under intense pressure from oil and gas companies, DCNR has proposed lifting the five-year ban on shallow drilling in state forests.
Unfortunately, many of the Commonwealth?s public lands and wild places have already been lost to extractive and degrading industries. Oil and gas drilling is already at record levels throughout much of the Commonwealth. Pennsylvania's landscape is currently scarred with more than 45,000 active gas wells and over 16,000 active oil wells, as well as more than 100,000 abandoned and inactive wells. In the Commonwealth's only national forest, the Allegheny National Forest, more than 10,000 wells already exist.
As lands in the public trust, we should not allow more of our state forests to be destroyed for short-sighted private gain. The remaining tracts of public lands that aren't already available for private gain from timber, mining and gas companies must be protected.
Keeping our state forestlands pristine is also integral to the success of Pennsylvania's economy, as outlined in the Pennsylvania Wilds Initiative. Recreation in Pennsylvania's forests has become more and more popular over time as people participate in activities from bicycling and hiking to fishing and hunting. In 2006, 4.2 million Pennsylvania residents took part in hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching; that same year, wildlife-related recreation contributed $4 billion to the state economy. Destroying the places in which people want to recreate will threaten one of Pennsylvania's largest industrial sectors--Recreation and Tourism.
To make matters worse, the Republican chairs of both the Senate and House Environmental Resources and Energy Committees in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, Sen. Mary Jo White and Rep. Scott Hutchinson respectively, have introduce legislation that would go even further to open up state forestlands to drilling. SB1127 and HB32 would require DCNR to conduct an auction for leases wherever 2 or more companies have overlapping bids submitted to drill on the same forestlands. Already, one company has submitted a proposal to drill on all 2.1 million acres of state forestlands, and other companies have submitted proposals that overlap on 1.6 million of these acres. It is not difficult to see how DCNR would be forced to auction off every acre of Pennsylvania forestlands to the highest bidder.
Moreover, SB1127 require DCNR to grant rights of way in and through state parks as needed to facilitate the gathering and delivery to market of oil/gas produced from state park lands or from adjacent or contiguous public or private lands. Not only are state forests in jeopardy, but our state parklands are potentially on the chopping block as well.
For these reasons, we hope that you will editorialize on this important issue. Please do not hesitate to reach us by email at DMasur@PennEnvironment.org, Jeff.Schmidt@Sierraclub.org,
RTalbott@AlleghenyDefense.org or by phone (office: 215-732-5897, cell: 267-303-8292) if you have questions or concerns. Thank you in advance for your consideration on this important issue.
