Gas drilling debate continues in Wayne

Role and capacity of DEP is questioned

By TOM KANE

DAMASCUS, PA — Some people in Wayne County are excited. Others are alarmed.

At issue is the fact that a number of landowners have signed leases to allow gas companies to look for gas on their property. It’s a chance for them to get some much needed income at a time when the nation’s slow economy is causing trouble, especially for farmers.

On the other side of the issue are residents who are alarmed that drilling will permanently harm the environment.

Those who see the potential for income have formed a consortium called the Northern Wayne Property Owners Alliance (NWPOA). Opponents have also formed a group called the Damascus Citizens for Self-Government and Friends (DCS).

Representatives of the DCS appeared at the Damascus Township Board meeting on January 21 to explore the township’s ability to use home rule to stop or control the drilling, They claim that other municipalities in the state have successfully stopped the drilling. They have requested to be placed on the agenda of the next Damascus Township meeting on February 18 to plead their case.

The NWPOA has united local landowners who control nearly 10,000 acres so that they can get guidance from attorneys who specialize in gas drilling. Their aim is to protect their interests in their dealings with the companies.

The group also claims in information it has sent out that the protection of the environment is one of their priorities.

One of the big questions is the role of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

“There have been no permits for drilling issued to gas companies in Wayne County and when and if they are issued, the companies will have to follow some strict regulations in the process,” said Ron Gilius, director of the Pennsylvania Department of DEP’s Bureau of Oil and Gas Management (DEPBOGM). “We will have sufficient staff to handle it.”

“That’s just not true,” said Ryan Talbot, forest watch coordinator of the Allegheny Defense Project located in Pittsburgh, PA. To support his opinion, Talbot said that the DEP has only a small number of inspectors at its Northwest PA headquarters in Meadville, PA on the Ohio border.

“They have literally thousands of well sites in the Northwest region to the Central region right now, and to monitor more than 10 percent of them is just impossible,” Talbot said.

“If an operator wants to drill a well, he has to get several permits from us,” Gilius said. “The company has to have a soil erosion and sedimentation plan and may have to get permits from the county conservation district. If drilling is encroaching on any stream or wetland, they must get a permit to do that in order to make sure that they properly protect ground water.”

Companies must use steel and cement casings to ensure that the ground water is not contaminated, Gilius said.

It has been claimed by opponents of drilling that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has exempted the companies from the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) regulations that monitor the provisions of the Clean Water Act and monitor regulations whose purpose is to control storm water run-off.

“The state has rules that supercede those federal regulations,” Gilius said. “We have our own rules.”

The Wayne County Conservation District will have a role in the regulation process depending on the size of the area where drilling will occur. Robert Mueller, director of the conservation district who had recently attended a conference on drilling regulation, which was organized by DEP, stated that he was disturbed by the prospect of companies moving into the county.