PA's Most Significant Current Environmental Issue

The oil and gas industry has moved into Pennsylvania to exploit the gas reserves located in the Marcellus Shale using hydraulic fracturing methods.  These methods use enormous amounts of freshwater and chemicals and have caused proven damage to Pennsylvania's water resources, including residential drinking water.

Despite these risks, Governor Tom Corbett, recipient of over $800,000 in campaign contributions from the gas industry, has issued a policy change requiring all permitting and enforcement actions relating to Marcellus Shale drilling to be reviewed directly by the new chief of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).  This unprecedented restriction, which applies only to Marcellus Shale-related actions, will slow or halt efforts to protect groundwater resources and public health and safety.

The industry has used its vast capital reserves to lease extensive mineral rights from private landowners, often in economically depressed areas of the Commonwealth.  Last year, Royal Dutch Shell PLC paid $4.7 billion to acquire Eastern Resources, Inc. which has mineral rights to over a million acres of land, much of it in Pennsylvania.  The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has itself leased mineral rights to tens of thousands of acres of forestland.

Against the economic power of the gas industry to influence elected officials, your contribution to the Fund is essential to remedy existing damage, prevent future harm, and make the polluters pay.

Already there have been numerous spills of diesel fuel and "fracking" fluid in wetlands and fields throughout Pennsylvania.  Explosions, fires, and gas leaks have injured residents, caused property damage, and made homes uninhabitable.  Drinking water wells on private land not subject to mineral leases have been polluted, as have sources of public drinking water.  Heavy truck traffic spews diesel emissions into previously unpolluted air, causes extensive damage to rural roads, and creates constant noise.  Methane has migrated and percolated from streams and wells.  Radioactive waste has leaked into rivers.

Further environmental damage can be prevented if only Pennsylvania adopts a twenty-first century energy policy relying on wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal and other clean energy technologies.  If these energy sources had received the same subsidies and cash injections that the oil and gas industry has received, we would be well on our way to a green energy revolution.

The Department of Environmental Protection's efforts under the Rendell administration to obtain information from drilling companies about the make-up of "fracking" fluid was consistently hindered by industry legal challenges.  Last year, the DEP issued over 750 notices of violation.  Under the Corbett administration, that number will necessarily drop as the new policy will make it even harder for inspectors to enforce existing laws.

In the face of significant evidence of serious environmental damage, it is time to place a moratorium on new drilling and water withdrawal permits and to regulate the use a poorly understood technology whose present economic gains will be dwarfed by the cost of environmental cleanups that will be needed in the future, when the Marcellus Shale is exhausted and the gas industry leaves the state.

We need to pressure Pennsylvania legislators to pass a natural gas extraction tax, which could be used to clean up the environmental damage and to provide alternative sources of drinking water to homeowners adversely affected by Marcellus Shale drilling.  Pennsylvania is the only state with significant natural gas production that does not have such a tax.

The Fund is committed to supporting candidates who support an extraction tax and vigorous enforcement of environmental laws related to Marcellus Shale drilling.  You can help the Fund pressure elected officials to act on behalf of all Pennsylvanians by making a contribution today.