Pittsburg City Paper Aug. 19, 2010 LINK
Somewhere beneath our feet — Pennsylvanians are told — lies a mile-deep layer of rock known as the Marcellus Shale, which contains more natural gas than Saudi Arabia has oil. And natural-gas companies are lining up to drill it all around the state.
Lately, though, they seem to be doing most of their prospecting in Harrisburg.
City Paper has acquired a document — titled “A Holistic Solution to Modernizing Pennsylvania Policies Impacting Marcellus Shale Development” — currently being circulated in Harrisburg. Credited to the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a trade group representing drillers, the proposed “solution” is a wide-ranging wish-list of industry priorities. Among its requests, for example, is that legislators “encourage” state and local governments to convert their vehicle fleets to natural gas.
The document — which is marked “DRAFT CONFIDENTIAL” — asserts that the coalition is “committed to participating in an honest, open dialogue.” But it includes positions the coalition has, at least in public, offered few specifics on. Among them:
— The coalition urges legislators to “oppose statutory and regulatory proposals that are not logically or scientifically based, or that would otherwise jeopardize capital investment with little or no benefit to the environment or consumers.”
— The coalition also asks legislators to “reinforce … the current preemption language” in state law, which bars local officials from passing their own environmental regulations. It also seeks to ensure that drilling is permitted “in all zoning districts.” (Since shale drilling can take place a mile below ground and a mile from the “well-head” visible on the surface, however, it’s possible this exemption would only apply to below-ground operations.)
— The coalition, which has long argued against imposing a “severance tax” on the value of gas drilled, will accept one — sort of. Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed a tax of 5 percent on the value of the gas; the coalition accepts that rate — but only after the well has been in operation for five years. Until that time, it urges charging only 1.5 percent on the value of the gas.
The coalition largely declined to comment on the document, and did not respond to a list of e-mailed questions. Instead, coalition president Kathryn Klaber issued a statement asserting the coalition is “fully committed to crafting commonsense legislative and regulatory policies.” Those policies, Klaber adds, “will help ensure that Marcellus development remains competitive with other shale gas-producing states,” which will ensure “that the economic and environmental benefits associated with responsible Marcellus Shale gas production reach all Pennsylvanians.”
“If this is a strategy for the industry, it’s unconscionable,” counters Pittsburgh City Councilor Patrick Dowd after reviewing the document. Read more of this post
GDACC 
