Responsible Drilling

Protect our water, land and communities from natural gas drilling

Background 
Pennsylvania sits atop one of the largest deposits of natural gas in the world -- the Marcellus shale formation. Relatively new drilling technology makes it lucrative for drillers to tap into this resource. The PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a record 7,792 drilling permits in 2008 (total) -- up from roughly 2,000 in 1999. And the applications keep coming.


       from the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center

The Marcellus shale formation, which lays under about 75 percent of Pennsylvania and parts of some of our neighboring states, is the current hot spot, but natural gas is also trapped in a number of other deep shale formations that occur in Pennsylvania, including the Utica and Trenton/Black River shales. The horizontal drilling and hydrofracturing techniques used to extract gas from Marcellus shale might make it economical for drillers to extract gas from these formations too. This could potentially bring large-scale gas production to most parts of the Commonwealth, with the exception of Philadelphia and its surrounding counties.

 
Take action!
Tell our state legislators you expect them to keep their promise to enact a severance tax on natural gas drilling by October 1.

Join the businesses and organizations that promote responsible drilling.

Facts
  • Drilling Facts of the Day
  • Drilling on state lands
  • Drilling impact fee
  • Water regulations
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    Most states with natural gas resources tax the extraction of the gas in the form of a severance tax or impact fee. In 2009 Gov. Rendell proposed a tax identical to the one that has been in place in West Virginia since 1987. With the anticipated production from drilling into the Marcellus shale, this type of tax could initially raise more than $100 million a year and increase to more than $630 million annually by 2014.

    Impact on communities and environment
    Natural gas extraction imposes heavy costs on our communities and environment – pipelines, drilling pads and wastewater storage pits altering our landscapes and fragmenting wildlife habitat, heavy rigs damaging our roads, billions of gallons of water taken from our streams and operational errors contaminating our land and drinking water.

    Use of an impact fee
    Some of the money raised from a natural gas extraction tax could be used to offset these costs and invest in watershed restoration and protection, habitat conservation, public access to outdoor recreation, and conservation of open space and farmland. This can be accomplished by directing a portion of the tax to the Environmental Stewardship Fund (Growing Greener) as well as to municipalities affected by drilling and Pennsylvania’s natural resource commissions for habitat improvement and public access purposes.

    Public forestland issues
    Photo of Fortuna Energy Marcellus drilling operation in the Tioga State Forest that was taken on October 1, 2009 by Dick Martin.
    Marcellus drill site, Tioga State Forest, 10/01/09 
    Industry groups oppose the gas impact fee and instead want to dramatically accelerate drilling on publicly owned forestlands to generate revenues for the state, even though last year saw a huge expansion of natural gas exploitation on state lands. In 2008, the PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources leased 74,000 acres of state forest for Marcellus shale gas drilling. As of May 2010, 700,000 acres were available to the drilling industry, with almost 139,000 acres opened for Marcellus drilling in just the previous 16 months.

    At least 100 wells are slated for drilling in state forests in 2010, and another 1,500 well pads containing 5,000 to 6,000 wells could be drilled in the next 10 years on forest land. It would be prudent to study the effects of this on wildlife, water, public recreation, and the general health of our forests before the state rushes to open more public land to major drilling operations.

    Since 1955, lease payments and royalties from drilling in our publicly owned state forests have been deposited in the Oil & Gas Lease Fund to be used strictly for conservation and recreation. Now, after 54 years, Harrisburg proposes to change the law to redirect the money to other uses.