PA community is split at meeting on drilling

Damascus residents bandy pros and cons

By TOM KANE

DAMASCUS, PA - Two sides are lining up over the issue of gas drilling.

At the monthly meeting of the Damascus Township Board on February 18, several speakers spoke against and others spoke in favor of allowing large drilling companies to begin drilling for natural gas on private property.

The issue has been brewing over the last year as drilling companies began asking land owners to sign leases that allow them to explore for gas deposits that many say are beneath the land mass in northeastern Pennsylvania. Local organizations have been formed?on both sides?to champion their own cause before local and state governments.

Several Damascus property owners have already signed agreements, although the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has not issued any drilling permits yet.

“The state Municipalities Planning Code (MPC), which is the legislation that must be followed in gas drilling, says that any gas regulations imposed by a local municipality are superceded by the MPC,” said Pennsylvania planner Tom Shepstone. “You are not permitted to regulate gas and oil drilling, period.”

Shepstone was accompanied, and his position was supported by, Mike Wood, another local planner.

Shepstone also objected to the township’s recent action to impose a $10,000 fee per well when drilling commences.

“Fees cannot be revenue raisers,” he said. “There is no basis for a fee if you have no authority to regulate.”

Several residents spoke in opposition to the drilling.

“My concern is with the effect of the presence of gas wells in Damascus Township on the homeowner’s property values,” said resident Edward Nocera. “I refer especially to those properties that are too small to have gas wells and therefore will have no monetary benefit from them. It’s inconceivable to think of burdening citizens, especially our elderly, with the loss of any equity in their homes.”

Nocera related that a gas line transfer station in neighboring Luzerne County exploded that day and several people had to be evacuated from their homes. “We don’t want this in Damascus.”

Nocera stated that he was not against drilling per se. “We, the people of Damascus, need to strive for unity,” he said. “There’s got to be another way to do this.” He called that a process in which the cost/benefit of the process be explored to expose the dangers and discover the benefits that could come from this exploration.

“The future of the township must not be left solely in the hands of outsider corporations and a limited constituency of large land owners,” he said.

Nocera’s position was supported by resident Barbara Arrindell, who holds a Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering from Columbia University and has a science background that allows her to understand the drilling process.

Speaking also to the issue of local regulation, resident Chuck Heyn reminded people that the state DEP does not have sufficient personnel to effectively monitor all the wells. For this reason, Heyn argued, a local municipality should be able to provide the necessary inspections.

Another meeting was held on Wednesday, February 20 at 10:00 a.m. at the Bryn Mawr Conference Center near Honesdale, PA, which was organized by state senator Lisa Baker and state assemblyman Michael Peifer, who arranged for DEP personnel to explain the regulatory process that must be followed by gas drilling companies.

Still another meeting organized by opponents of gas drilling will be held at the Delaware Youth Center in Callicoon, NY at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, February 22. Ben Price, director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, a national organization that provides free and affordable legal services to community-based groups and local governments working to protect their quality of life and the natural environment through building sustainable communities, will address the assembly.