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Gas industry wants power to force landowners to allow drilling, and donated to lawmakers who now support it
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Gas industry wants power to force landowners to allow drilling, and donated to lawmakers who now support it
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Introducing our new series "Fracktrack" — ongoing coverage of the Marcellus Shale gas drilling industry in Pennsylvania. Copy or bookmark this link to check for future updates or send us an email for notifications.
When Harrisburg passed a state budget two weeks go, the legislature included in that budget a theoretical tax on the production of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania — theoretical, because the tax still doesn't exist, except in theory: the details have yet to be worked out, and the gas industry, unsurprisingly, is lobbying hard for concessions.
Last Friday, I began hearing rumors that chief among those concessions desired is the power to implement "forced pooling," — essentially, the power to force reluctant landowners to lease or open their land for drilling, whether they want to or not.
Sure enough: this weekend, the Scranton Times-Tribune reported that two state representatives — Marc Gergely, D-35, Allegheny County, and Garth Everett, R-84, Lycoming County — have co-sponsored a bill which would do just that.
The piece quotes Kathryn Klaber of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, explaining that the law's intent is to ensure that gas development is "not a crazy quilt" and adding that, although models for such laws exist in other state, the Marcellus Coalition has "not found another state's pooling statute that stands out as a model for what they would like to see in Pennsylvania."
Meanwhile, a (very) cursory examination of Pennsylvania campaign finance records by CP shows that both representatives sponsoring the bill have received contributions from the gas industry:
Rep. Gergely received at least $6,000 from Allegheny Energy PAC in two donations last summer, at least $1,500 in donations — including $1,000 donated just a few months ago — from Chesapeake Energy Corp, one of PA's largest drilling companies.
Rep. Everett received donations from Chesapeake also: a $500 donation and two tickets to the Phillies, worth (according to Everett's campaign) $140.
A letter, headed up by the Campaign for Clean Water and signed by more than a dozen representatives of environmental groups is calling on the legislature to oppose so-called "forced pooling":
Forced pooling not only will require landowners to sign leases they do not want to sign, but it does this for the sole purpose of the gain of a private entity. Some landowners have decided they do not want to lease their mineral rights after deliberative consideration. The oil and gas industry would like the General Assembly to overturn the landowners' decisions. This essentially extends the concept of eminent domain but instead of using private property for the public good, it takes private property for private gain.
Well folks, I might as well get this on the comments before the troll wakes up for the evening: a reader just clued me in to the fact that a new website just started up called fractracker.org - sorry, dudes. So . . . maybe this series will need a new name. Any Suggestions? Gas . . . pass? Shale . . . mail? Marcellus . . . Bar . . . Mell . . . Gus?
Discovery Well
The Clog - Pass Gas? um..maybe not!
Why don't they just ask us or force us to give them our blood for free..
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