Gas drilling and tourism

The view from the Endless Mountains

By FRITZ MAYER

ENDLESS MOUNTAINS, PA — Speculation about how gas drilling might affect the tourism industry in the Upper Delaware Valley has run the gamut from the opinion that it will destroy it to the notion that it will be a shot in the arm for the industry because tourists will come here to gawk at the drilling rigs.

Residents in the Endless Mountains, which include Bradford, Sullivan, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties, have been living with the impact of a lot of drilling activity for the past year, and some areas quite a bit longer than that. In interviews with several residents, who make their living in the tourism industry, the prevailing view was that, to this point, drilling has not had a negative impact on the industry and has had some positive effects.

Jean Gasper, executive director of the Endless Mountain Visitors Bureau, said that hotels in the area are running at a 98% occupancy rate, and four new hotels are being built in Wyoming and Bradford counties. She said it has not gotten to the point that she has to tell visitors “we can’t find a room,” but gas drilling has meant a definite boost. And not just hotels, she said: “Restaurants, gas stations and even gift shops. You know a lot of these people that are going home,” to their home states such as Texas, and, “they want to bring presents.”

The bed and breakfast segment has also seen a boost, according to Dorothy Sharpe, who with her husband owns Sharpe B&B in Tunkhannock. She said, “We’ve benefitted from it. Not from the gas people themselves, but they’ve taken up all the hotel space, so the people who would call and want a hotel or motel room, they had to come to us, because there are no rooms, or very few.” She said the increase has been significant this year.

And she added, people are still coming to the region for the same reasons as before: to hike, fish, shop for antiques and so on.

Fishing guide Mike Leonetti, who owns Mike’s Guide Service in Bradford County, was a bit more cautious, saying that it might be a bit too early to say with certainty that the effect of gas drilling on fishing would be positive or negative. He noted that business had been slow at the end of July and in August, but blamed that primarily on the exceptionally hot weather. Once the heat abated in September, his business went back to normal.

He also said that he had signed on seven new clients who are connected to gas drilling. “These guys are from Texas,” he said, “and they love to fish.” He said a year into the gas-drilling phenomena, “I’ve seen no adverse effects from the drilling.”

With the hunting season coming up, some are wondering if a lack of rooms in the area will drive some hunters across the state line into New York. According to a story on www.pressconnects.com, Bradford County Conservation District Manager Michael Lovegreen addressed a legislative committee in Broome County in New York two weeks ago and said the possibility of fewer hunters in Endless Mountains because of a lack of hotel rooms could mean that the deer management of the region might need to be adjusted to prevent negative impacts of more deer browsing in the forest. However, whether hunters will be able to find rooms remains to be seen.

While the overall outlook of three of the interviewees was optimistic, there was a recognition that the gas drilling was a temporary phenomenon, and that possible negative impacts might lay ahead.

In a reference to the tainted wells in nearby Dimock, Sharpe said, “You hear all the horror stories, and there are some that aren’t far from us. It could be devastating if it [methane or fracking chemicals] gets into our water. In that case, we’re not only out of business, we’re out of town, you know?”