Sunday, April 14, 2013
As the Marcellus Shale industry expands in western Pennsylvania—and individual property owners start to benefit—issues often become controversial, especially when it comes to the environment.
Marcellus Shale is here to stay. Like its natural resource predecessors—coal deep mining and strip mining, natural gas and oil wells, and logging—Marcellus Shale drilling brings jobs and a source of energy for businesses and consumers. Like its predessors, Marcellus Shale drilling also brings and will most likely leave behind environmental concerns. Today, there's mine insurance today for those who own homes and businesses above areas that were mined for coal 100 or more years ago. Reclamation efforts were mandated in 1977 to restore areas destroyed by strip mining and why there's always a danger of an oil or gas well fire or leak into waterways. Reforestation replaces trees lost to the logging industry. Already, Marcellus Shale has raised…
Friday, February 8, 2013
Hundreds pack Robert Morris University for a public hearing on Marcellus shale gas drilling at Pittsburgh International Airport. The potential deal could generate an estimated $500 million for the airport.
Former Moon resident Gary Sheffler said his civil engineering firm PVE Sheffler struggled in the years after U.S. Airways abandoned its hub and cut flights at Pittsburgh International—a move that triggered a downturn in the overall airport corridor economy. "To put a personal face on this, my company went from 15 employees down to three employees," said Sheffler, speaking before hundreds Thursday at a public hearing at Robert Morris University. The burgeoning natural gas drilling industry in Western Pennsylvania has helped his company grow to hire a staff of 70, he said. "I would have a hard time telling 70 people with families and kids, 'I think we have got to shut it down because of the environment,' " he said. Allegheny County …
Monday, October 15, 2012
Sewickley, Sewickley Hills and Sewickley Heights, as well as other local municipalities, stand to benefit from the Act 13 impact fee—but not very much.
Gov. Tom Corbett today announced that Act 13 has generated more than $204.2 million through the new impact fee. Most of this money will be distributed directly to local communities across the state—including Aleppo, Bell Acres, Edgeworth, Glenfield, Glen Osborne, Haysville, Leet, Leetsdale, Sewickley, Sewickley Heights and Sewickley Hills. Money is being withheld in the case of Cecil Township, Mount Pleasant, Robinson and South Fayette. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that those communities will have their share of the local impact fee withheld until their ordinances governing drilling have been reviewed by the state and deemed in compliance with Act 13. In all four instances, residents lobbied the Public Utilities Commission to …
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Earthworks, a nonprofit, released its study, 'Breaking All the Rules: The Crisis in Oil & Gas Regulatory Enforcement' Tuesday.
Earthworks, a non-profit, released a new research study Tuesday indicating that states across the country—including Pennsylvania—are failing to enforce their own oil and gas development regulations. The one-year, in-depth research project, "Breaking All the Rules: The Crisis in Oil & Gas Regulatory Enforcement," examined enforcement data and practices in Pennsylvania, Texas, Ohio, New York, New Mexico and Colorado and included interviews with ex-industry and state agency employees. "State enforcement of oil and gas rules is broken," said Earthworks' Senior Staff Attorney Bruce Baizel. He continued, "Across the country, public health and safety are at risk because states are failing to uphold the rule of law. Until states can guarantee they…
Monday, September 24, 2012
The free 'Understanding Shale Gas Exploration & Development' session is open to the public.
Penn State Extension will host “Understanding Shale Gas Exploration & Development” from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at the Allegheny County Extension Office, 400 North Lexington St., third floor, in Point Breeze. The goal of the program is to provide attendees with a greater understanding of the impacts of shale gas exploration on leasing, water quality and the community, as well as needs that homeowners and community members should address if they hold property in shale gas areas. Scheduled speakers include Penn State Extension educators Jon Laughner and Dana Rizzo, as well as Agricultural Law Resource & Reference Center Director Ross Pifer. The discussion will include the current and future outlook for shale development, …
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Several groups Tuesday filed briefs in support of the group of communities, medical doctor and nonprofit that have challenged Act 13.
A group of environmental and community planning organizations, as well as government entities, filed a series of Amicus Briefs with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Tuesday in support of communities’ rights to making zoning decisions about Marcellus Shale play within their borders. The groups—including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association, the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, the Pittsburgh City Council, Mountain Watershed Association, and Earthjustice—filed in support of a Commonwealth Court decision that found portions of Act 13 unconstitutional. The groups filing today join a broad spectrum of entities from …
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
The request to deny the motion to intervene in an appeal of Act 13 by two of the state's top Republican leaders was filed Wednesday by the challengers to the law.
Attorneys for a cluster of communities, medical doctor and nonprofit challenging Pennsylvania's new law governing Marcellus Shale play on Wednesday asked the state Supreme Court to deny the request of two top state Republican leaders to intervene in an appeal of Act 13. State Senator Pro Temore Joe Scarnati and state Leader of the House Rep. Samuel H. Smith made the request to intervene in the appeal, which was filed a day after the Commonwealth Court ruled that portions of the new law dealing with zoning was unconstitutional last month. In its motion, attorneys for the Act 13 challengers, which include the communities of Cecil and Peters townships, said Scarnati and Smith's request should be denied for several reasons—including the fact …
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Several companies looking to expand into the state's growing natural gas industry have settled in Moon.
John Lucey, executive vice president of Heckmann Water Resources, said his company relocated last year from Texas to Moon Township's Cherrington Office Park so it could stake its claim in the region's growing Marcellus shale industry. "It's really been an exciting growth story," said Lucey during testimony yesterday before the state House Republican Policy Committee. "And we don't expect this to stop. We expect to keep growing our business." Heckmann, which specializes in the transport and treatment of water used for natural gas and oil drilling, added some 400 employees to its ranks in Pennsylvania since 2011—the year it established itself in the region's Marcellus shale industry. Lucey spoke on behalf of the company during a public …
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
The public is invited to attend the public hearing.
Pennsylvania Rep. Mark Mustio, R-Moon, will co-chair a state House Majority Policy Committee public hearing today on Coraopolis Heights Road in Moon Toiwnship. The hearing is one of several the committee is hosting statewide to discuss ways in which the state economy can grow from its burgeoning Marcellus shale industry. The hearing, which is open to the public, will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at Nova Chemicals Coraopolis Heights Road facility. Those expected to testify include John Lucey of the Heckman Corporation, Chris Petrone of the Foundation for Fair Contracting, Jim Protin of Chester Engineers and Joy Ruff of the Marcellus Shale Coalition. Members of the policy committee, including chairman Rep. Dave Reed, R-Indiana, will also…
Monday, July 30, 2012
The application was filed Monday.
State officials on Monday asked the state Supreme Court for expedited consideration of an appeal of a Commonwealth Court decision last week that ruled portions of the state’s new Marcellus Shale law—known as Act 13—as unconstitutional. The court last week ruled that zoning regulations related to Marcellus Shale play should be made at the local level, and not the state level as Act 13 mandated. “That decision has gutted Act 13 of one of its key interstitial parts and has created significant uncertainty for the Commission, the Department, and the regulated community at this critical juncture in the Marcellus Shale development,” an attorney for the Public Utility Commission and the state Department of Environmental protection wrote in the …
Tom Barchfeld
8:38 am on Thursday, April 18, 2013
Mike, the EPA head herself could not find 1 instance of pollution in 60 years of fracking history. more ›