PA - State Doesn't Control Mineral Rights For 80% Of State Parks; 1/3 Of Public Land Already Leased

[hatrack]

EDIT

Currently, about one-third of Pennsylvania’s public lands—700,000 acres—are leased to drilling companies. While Rendell’s moratorium put a stop to further leasing, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not own the subsurface mineral rights to 80 percent of state parks. About half of the state’s 117 parks, according to Quigley, lie above the Marcellus Shale formation. So even with Rendell’s moratorium in place, the natural gas industry has wide access to the public lands, including Ohiopyle. Further weakening the state’s regulatory authority, a 2009 state supreme court decision limited DCNR’s ability to impose use conditions on public lands to which it owns only the surface rights.

With the construction of a natural gas well pad on public land comes the need for miles of service roads and underground pipelines that fragment both critical wildlife habitat and areas of uninterrupted outdoor recreational space. Thousands of truck trips are required for each well due to the millions of gallons of chemical-infused water that is needed to fracture the subsurface geologic formations and release the gas trapped inside. “The question,” says Quigley, “is what are the limits of resource extraction on the public lands?”

Thanks to Quigley, though, this is no longer an open question. Under his direction, DCNR conducted a two-year study of the likely impacts of natural gas extraction on the public parks system. The study determined that “no additional leasing involving surface disturbance can occur without significantly altering the ecological integrity and wild character of our state forest system.” Rendell’s drilling moratorium was in response to this finding, along with peaking concerns over the environmental and public health impacts of natural gas drilling.

“There is a huge outdoor recreation culture and ethic in Pennsylvania,” Quigley continues. “The hunting and fishing opportunities that our public lands provide define to a significant degree the character of our state. This parks system was built so that every citizen of the state could have access to their natural inheritance. It’s grounded in the state constitution.” In March, Corbett empanelled a Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, which will deliver a final set of recommendations to the Governor this summer. The panel—remaining consistent with Corbett’s financial backing—is stacked in the industry’s favor, and conservationists speculate that the panel might provide political cover for the governor to reverse the moratorium in exchange for a nominal production tax or local impact fee.

EDIT

http://www.thenation.com/article/160038/pennsylvanias-gop-governor-lets-gas-industry-have-its-way-public-parks

[Hawkowl]

1. Raped by the rich man's drill bit

This is partially what is meant by the the rich literally owning the country.

[Newest Reality]

2. Literally!

The question then comes down to, what about ownership of its inhabitants? Do they consent?

[truedelphi]

3. This nation has so many shameful policies in place, that

any caring person finds it hard to sleep at night.

If only that were the case for the monsters that are responsible for these activities.

[Kolesar]

4. Ohiopyle State Park is a real gem

I have visited that park dozens of times and run the river about 60 times. It is a huge park with huge undeveloped spaces that support a lot of wildlife. Now it is going to be cross cut with roads and the streams muddied and filled with drilling chemicals.

[txlibdem]

5. Rich sociopaths own everything, control the economy, and they are too big to fail

The wealthy will not give up their ill gotten gains willingly. As with all criminals, they must be convinced to do the right thing.