Marcellus Panel Looks for Common Ground at First Meeting

Marcellus Panel Looks for Common Ground at First Meeting

Monday, March 28, 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
by  Laura Olson

The public comments at the end of Friday's inaugural meeting of the state Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission showed part of the challenge facing that panel during the next four months.

One county commissioner stood up to laud the number of jobs that gas drilling has brought to his community. He was followed by a northeastern resident who said her property value has plummeted because of the surrounding well pads, and another woman citing concerns about water quality.

"I moved up here to be at peace with nature," Wyoming County resident Joanne Fiorito told the panel. "You have now ripped my American dream apart, and I am appalled and outraged."

The 30-member panel has 120 days to assess how the state is managing natural gas drilling, as well as find some policy agreement between those skeptical of the booming business and those benefiting from it.

The group will report back to Gov. Tom Corbett in mid-July on what changes they recommend to balance job growth and environmental protection.

Their first task during the meeting, which lasted for more than four hours, was dividing the topics to be tackled among four work groups -- health, safety and environmental protection; economic and workforce development; infrastructure; and local impacts and emergency response.

Those groups will begin their work shortly, and give an update of their progress at the commission's next meeting on April 27.

A locally assessed impact fee on gas drillers will be part of those talks, said Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, the commission's chairman. But a statewide severance tax, which the Corbett administration opposes, is "off the table," he added.

Several of the commission members -- who represent state government, local communities, environmental advocates, industry leaders and academia -- noted a need for some form of levy or fee to help local governments with rising costs.

Mr. Cawley said he'd like to see figures on what the drilling industry is costing municipalities and counties in additional road construction, staffing, emergency response calls and other growing demands.

Several on the panel talked about using a "fact-based" process to figure out how to responsibly grow the drilling industry, and to present Pennsylvania as the best place for drilling companies to invest.

"We have to win," said Nicholas Haden, vice president of Reserved Environmental Services, a wastewater treatment facility in New Stanton, Westmoreland County. "The Marcellus Shale is not the only shale play in the world."

Presenters giving a snapshot of the industry's activities relayed data on how much interest the Marcellus, and the state's other shale formations, already have garnered.

Southwestern Pennsylvania is near the forefront of activity, with Washington and Greene among the top five counties for number of wells. Department of Environmental Protection statistics show Washington with 305 wells drilled since 2007 and 179 in Greene, which puts them third and fourth behind Bradford and Tioga.

Those wells, and others in the works, are expected to bring more than 10,000 industry jobs to the state's southwest by 2014, said Tom Murphy, of Penn State's Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research.

But amid the presentations came questions to be discussed in the coming months: How should the state help non-drilling businesses, which are losing workers to higher-paying gas companies and having trouble filling the resulting openings?

And how many hotel rooms and apartment buildings should towns add to accommodate an industry that tends to move money and manpower quickly if markets shift?

Some lessons may be found in looking at the southern shale gas-producing states, said Teri Ooms, of the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development.

A major complaint in Arkansas, and in some parts of Pennsylvania already, is road damage and congestion, said Ms. Ooms. She said one strategy that helped ease tensions was posting truck routes and advertising when those roads would have heavy traffic.

Other problems and solutions will be the source of much-welcomed debate by the commission and members of the public, said Mr. Cawley.

"We want to hear it from all sectors, because we want to provide a blueprint to Gov. Corbett in the middle of July that truly outlines all of the benefits as well as any potential impacts so that he can make an informed decision," he said.