Forum addresses legislation
Published: March 10, 2010
Font size: [A] [A] [A]
e-mail this
share this
Sen. Gene Yaw speaks to a gathering Friday night of about 150 people at Elk Lake High School. Behind him, from left, are Rep. Sandra Major, Rep. Tina Pickett, attorney Lester Greevy and industry spokesman Carl Carlson. STAFF PHOTO/ROBERT BAKER
Area residents got a primer on Marcellus gas drilling legislation last Friday night at the second of three League of Women Voter forums at ElkLakeHigh School.
Julanne Skinner, Susquehanna County LWV president served as moderator and said her goal was to let people know where their legislators stood, but more importantly where legislation stood in regard to the Marcellus shale.
Sen. Gene Yaw, R-23rd Dist., was first up and spoke to a pair of Senate bills- 297 and 298.
Yaw claimed that SB297 would possibly be up for a vote in the next couple of weeks and aims to amend the 1984 Oil and Gas Act.
He said that the goal of his legislation was to change well reporting requirements “to make more information available to the general public.”
Yaw noted, however, that by keeping information up front “and honest,” he expected it may embrace the possibility of attracting other people to come to Pennsylvania.
His SB298 aims to amend the state’s clean and green law so that its purposes are uniformly interpreted across the entire state regarding preferential tax assessments, and particularly as land is impacted by Marcellus shale development. He noted the issue was also pending before the House Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee.
Rep. Sandra Major, R-111th District, which encompasses about 75 percent of SusquehannaCounty and much of Wyoming County, spoke to HB 977 which she has co-sponsored.
A similar bill 2453 was introduced in 2009 but did not make it out of committee, Major said.
She said the bill’s intent was relatively simple in adding references to the Marcellus shale to the Oil & Gas Law which governs the industry in Pennsylvania, to define a lease, to define a royalty owner and to define royalty calculations.
She said the bill would also address a ‘rule of capture’ issue that has caught some people’s attention and would require horizontal drilling not to be done under people’s property if they were not presently involved in a lease.
Rep. Tina Pickett, R-110th District which includes about one-fifth of Susquehanna County where most of the drilling activity to date is going on, said “I have to tell you that every single day of my life there’s a concern somewhere about gas drilling.”
She acknowledged that on a daily basis she hears from constituents, and she acknowledged that she has listened to some of the residents of Dimock who have damaged water supplies.
She said that “but what about my water” is something she hears from everyone and no one wants fresh, clean water sacrificed.
She acknowledged that after the experience along Carter Road after which methane apparently got in the water supply of wells serving more than two dozen families, she has done some searching, and now questions, “Is our law sufficient to protect our water?”
She said as presently interpreted if a water supply is within 1,000 feet of gas drilling activity and a substantial change happens for the worse to the water that the gas driller “is presumed to be the problem.”
Pickett said she would like to see the presumption distance changed to 2,000 feet
But, Pickett also noted that she would like to see something not presently in the law and that is that gas drillers be required to provide each landholder within proximity of a well to supply two water tests, one before any drilling activity commences and the other at whatever point the landowner wants a second test done.
Like Major, she, too is looking more closely at horizontal drilling, and also at something she recently found alarming- gas drilling being permitted in flood plains.
“We have to get a handle on that,” Pickett said, noting that she was waiting to hear back from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection about some pictures that surfaced this winter of flooding at a couple of gas drilling sites in flood plains.
One was in Rush Township, SusquehannaCounty, which is in her district.
She said, “the impact could be huge” if there were an accident in such a setting.
Asked Monday why a state legislator was not getting an immediate reply to a DEP request, DEP spokesman Dan Spadoni in the Williamsport office, said he was unaware Pickett had not been responded to.
He acknowledged Tuesday morning that Pickett was sent information about gas well drilling in a flood plain, but would not confirm when that took place.
Spadoni said he assumed that it addressed her concern and if she had others they would “certainly” be followed up in a timely manner.
He noted that there was nothing in the 1984 Oil & Gas Act that allows for drilling in a flood plain, but drilling is restricted from taking place within 100 feet of a waterway.
Also on Friday’s panel was attorney Lester Greevy, an oil and gas law expert who raised issues about leases and industry spokesman Carl Carlson.
Carlson said that Susquehanna, Bradford and Tioga counties were considered to be one of two “sweet spots” for accessing the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania and he addressed concerns about a severance tax as proposed recently by Gov. Ed Rendell.
He pointed out through other taxes and permits, that the industry spends about $600 million in taxes already, and doubted the severance tax, if applied would bring in more than $25 million a year.
Yaw, Major and Pickett said they were all for a severance tax, but Yaw made a point of underscoring that the issue is how the proposed 5 percent tax would be divided once it’s collected.
He showed several plans before various legislative committees and said he was concerned that most have the revenue going into a general fund rather than back to the area where the drilling is taking place.
The presenters left themselves with only enough time to address about five questions.
One raised the issue of the alarming gas drilling going on in a flood plain and questioned if that wasn’t evidence that a moratorium was needed, as presently exists in New York state.
Neither Major, Pickett nor Yaw said a moratorium was in order.
Major said she was shocked at what happened in Rush Township. “We need to be mindful of places that flood and hope DEP would not permit a site of that nature.”
Yaw raised the issue that if a hill was surrounded by a flood plain, then drillers should be allowed to use that hill to site a well.
Yaw, who more than a month ago had been refusing to meet with some of his constituents, who were involved in a lawsuit with Cabot Oil over their damaged water supply in DimockTownship, found himself in their presence Friday night after the forum.
Victoria Switzer said she showed him pictures of damage in Dimock and she claimed he questioned whether they were in fact from Dimock.
She said after the meeting that she felt demeaned that he couldn’t just accept them at face value.
“Why should he not want to know the truth?” she asked.
