Bearing witness

NWPOA signs leases; industry and PSU hit the road

By SANDY LONG

PENNSYLVANIA — “I saw ordinary people doing an ordinary thing and yet, it was extraordinary,” said Mary Handler, a Wayne County, PA resident who decided she needed to see for herself the process that members of the Northern Wayne Property Owners Alliance (NWPOA) were going through as they began signing natural gas leases with Hess Corporation last week.

Handler, a member of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS), ventured alone to the Damascus Township Community Center last week to observe the culmination of many months of negotiations between various gas companies and the NWPOA, representing the interests of 1,000 landowners and their approximately 80,000 acres in Wayne and Susquehanna counties.

“I wasn’t planning any sort of action,” said Handler, who has worked for an equally lengthy period of time to disseminate information about the potentially negative impacts of natural gas extraction. “I just wanted to quietly witness the process of signing.”

Handler was struck with the ordinariness of the activity, as fellow citizens strolled in and out, munching donuts and pizza after signing documents that will give Hess the right to explore for and extract natural gas in two zones specified in the leases. “Considering the consequences and what that means for a large amount of land and water in Wayne County is what made it so extraordinary,” said Handler.

The signing events began on July 29 and will continue through August 15.

In another act of witnessing, Handler traveled to Waymart to hear what the gas industry had to say at a public meeting held on July 30. The meeting was the first in a series of sessions scheduled by the PA Marcellus Shale Committee (MSC). The MSC is comprised of members of the gas and oil industry, the Independent Oil and Gas Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association.

The presentation was given by David Messersmith of Penn State Cooperative Extension in Wayne County, Dr. Robert Watson of Penn State University (PSU) and David Speaglemire of Chesapeake Energy. It included information on leasing, hydraulic fracturing, water issues and infrastructure, and stressed the economic development opportunities associated with the process of natural gas extraction. A series of handouts was provided, including one detailing the MSC’s commitments to education, safety, business development, charities and the future.

PSU’s ongoing relationship with the industry was referenced in a slide, as well as in relation to an industry-funded study released by PSU last week. Watson reported that PSU has produced 60 percent of the engineers associated with the industry.

Audience members asked questions about issues such as the reuse of frack fluids in products like road salt and the resale of leases to foreign interests. When Handler raised questions about contamination of water wells near drilling activities in other parts of the state, Speaglemire and Watson said that they were unaware of contamination incidents caused by drilling.

The presenters attempted to address the concerns of the roughly 80 people who attended, but to Handler, the presentation appeared contrived. “They downplayed the environmental issues,” said Handler. “I got the impression that they feel so empowered they don’t need to make sense.”

The next public meeting is scheduled for August 11, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Abington Heights High School Auditorium in Clarks Summit, PA. Visit www.pamarcellus.com for more information.