PA Environment Digest An Update On Environmental Issues In PA Edited By: David E. Hess, Crisci Associates Winner 2009 PAEE Business Partner Of The Year Award Harrisburg, Pa June 2, 2014 PEC Opposes Bill Mandating Different Environmental Safeguards For Conventional Wells The Pennsylvania Environmental Council Tuesday sent a communication to the Pennsylvania State Senate to express its opposition to the recently introduced Senate Bill 1378 (Scrantai­R­ Jefferson, Hutchinson­R­Venango) (P.N. 2053). Paul King, President and CEO of PEC, made the following statement in association with the communication: “Senate Bill 1378 is a step in the wrong direction. At a time when we are still waiting for promulgation of new natural gas regulations from a law that passed more than two years ago, this legislation seeks to further limit protection standards. “As many natural gas operators have done at their own initiative, including in cooperative fashion through the Center for Sustainable Shale Development, we should be looking for ways to improve performance and protection – not carving out new exemptions. “If Pennsylvania truly wants to be a leader in responsible resource development, the General Assembly should promptly reject Senate Bill 1378.” (Photo: conventional oil and gas wells in the Allegheny National Forest.) The text of the communication follows: “On behalf of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, I am writing to express our strong opposition to Senate Bill 1378 (P.N. 2053) – which would establish the “Pennsylvania Conventional Oil and Gas Well Regulations Act.” “Senate Bill 1378 directs the Department of Environmental Protection and Environmental Quality Board to establish separate regulations for conventional and unconventional gas wells in Pennsylvania. This requirement would extend to all environmental protection laws in the Commonwealth. “Both conventional and unconventional wells pose potential risks to human health and the environment, including on or off site spills of wastewater or other contaminants, erosion and sedimentation issues, methane migration from subsurface disturbance, air emissions, and other impacts. Despite Senate Bill 1378’s assertion, conventional well development is not inherently “benign”. “Senate Bill 1378’s flaw is compounded by the fact that the legislation follows an artificial distinction between “conventional” and “unconventional” gas wells. The bill distinguishes “conventional” and “unconventional” operations solely by depth of the target formation – below the Elk Sandstone or its geologic equivalent. “Here’s why this is so important: this distinction does not account for the technology or technique (for example, hydraulic fracturing) used by an operator. In fact, Senate Bill 1378 goes a step further to expressly state that the technology or design of a well is inconsequential to its characterization as “conventional” or “unconventional”(see, for example, page 2, line 23 of the legislation). “Therefore, pursuant to this legislation, any operator, regardless of the size of the company, could conduct high volume fracturing at shallow depths and still be deemed “conventional” – and thus subject to reduced protection standards. It bears noting that fracturing at shallower formations can pose even greater risks to ground and drinking water resources. “This arbitrary distinction, which has it roots in Act 13 of 2012, is wholly inappropriate as a benchmark for setting environmental protection standards. “Senate Bill 1378 creates a new and potentially vast exemption for natural gas operations, undercutting necessary environmental protections for on­site containment, drinking and surface water protection, air emissions, and other siting and control standards. “This legislation goes directly against the import of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision last December with respect to Act 13 and the sufficiency of environmental protection in regulating natural gas development. “The General Assembly should not violate the public trust by taking steps to further weaken the protections afforded to its citizens and environment. “We ask that you oppose this legislation. Thank you for your consideration.” Background: Conventional Well Drilling In PA By PA Environment Digest Conventional oil and gas wells are a significant threat to Pennsylvania’s environment if not properly regulated and increasingly fracking is used to get more production out of conventional oil and gas wells, just like unconventional Marcellus Shale wells. Since 1859 some 325,000 conventional oil and gas wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania, of which an estimated 200,000 wells are abandoned and unplugged creating a pathway for air, soil and ground and surface water pollution throughout the state. It has only been since 1956 the state has required permits for new drilling operations. It was not until 1984 when well operators were required to plug non­producing wells they drilled and standards were set for well construction and operation. The environmental threat from improperly constructed and plugged conventional oil and gas wells was so great that the 1984 law Oil and Gas Act created the Abandoned and Orphaned Well Program. Some funding for abandoned well plugging was provided in the 1984 law, however it was expended in the original Growing Greener Program and supplemented in the 2012 with the Act 13 law regulating unconventional oil and gas wells. The General Assembly was clearly concerned enough by conventional oil and gas drilling in the past to establish environmental standards and find ways to deal with the environmental hazards they create. Legislation identical to Senate Bill 1378 is expected to be introduced in the House shortly. NewsClips: Rendell DCNR Officials Testify At Court Hearing On State Leasing Injunction Sought To Block Additional State Forest Drilling Court Hears Testimony In Lawsuit To Stop State Forest Drilling Plan Court Hears Request To Block State Forest Leasing Environmental Groups Files To Stop More State Gas Leasing Op­Ed: Fracking Has Gone Far Enough In Penn’s Woods Op­Ed: It’s A Good Thing PA Is Not An Anti­Fracking State Editorial: State Forests Already Host Plenty Of Gas Drilling Editorial: Corbett Takes Protection Away From Sensitive Lands Corbett: No Interest In Adding Natural Gas Severance Tax Bumsted: Handicapping A Shale Extraction Tax Cabot Drilling Company Wins Governor’s Community Impact Award Former Rendell Officials Now Say Marcellus Natural Gas Drilling Exploited State Forests StateImpact, the Patriot­News, Post­Gazette and the Citizens Voice Thursday reported former DCNR officals in the Rendell Administration now say the leasing of 137,000 acres of State Forest land for drilling exploited State Forests as a “cash cow.” The remarks were made during the first day of arguments before Commonwealth Court in a lawsuit the PA Environmental Defense Fund filed against the Rendell and Corbett Administrations over the transfer over $383 million in proceeds in DCNR’s Oil and Gas Fund to balance the state General Fund. Capitolwire.com provided a preview of the Court hearing Tuesday. The newspapers reported testimony and documents entered into evidence for the lawsuit said Michael DiBerardinis, Rendell's DCNR Secretary at the time, sent Rendell a memo on March 27, 2009, in which he told the governor: "Wholesale leasing will damage our State Forest landscape. It would scar the economic, scenic, ecological, and recreational values of the forest ­ especially the most wild and remote areas of our state in the Pennsylvania Wilds." Jim Grace, former State Forester with DCNR noted the Rendell leases in 2010 set "a terrible precedent" by ordering the exploitation of the state forest for quick cash regardless of the impacts. "It's dictating from outside how many acres should be developed without considering any of the other uses," said Grace, which flies in the face of the mission of DCNR and might possibly violate the state's role of trustee of the public resources under the terms of Article 1 Section 27 of the state constitution. Former DCNR Secretary John Quigley under Rendell echoed Grace: "We determined (additional leasing) was not in the best interests of the Commonwealth, and yet we were ordered to do two more rounds of leasing." Quigley added a provision inserted in the 2009 Fiscal Code requiring more leasing of State Forest land to generate $180 million in revenue to balance the state budget was "an effective repeal of the 1955 oil and gas lease fund act.” "We were being forced to raise almost another quarter billion dollars without regard to the agency's mission," said Quigley. "The governor and General Assembly were coming very close to slaughtering the cash cow." Quigley and DCNR did offer another 31,968 acres of State Forest for leasing in November of 2009. He said in a press release at the time, "Our approach to making state lands available for natural gas drilling has always been to limit the impact on the surface and on other uses of the land. We've been exceptionally mindful of our obligations as we developed this plan to balance our environmental responsibilities and the budget." He went on to explain, that "For about a year, DCNR has been working to prepare a lease sale. We chose these tracts of land after extensive environmental reviews to protect the health of the forest now and in the future, to allow for gas and timber extraction and public recreation, and to keep ecosystems intact that support a diversity of wildlife and plants. In total, these tracts represent a little more than 1.5 percent