So our new progressive governor announced a moratoriun on oil and gas leases in state lands, but leaves forests available for drilling. I can understand the problem — Tom Corbett left a huge deficit, and Wolf’s going to have to come up with revenue somehow. But still!
Thursday’s order does not stop the Department of Environmental Protection from permitting wells, pipelines, or compressor stations on existing leases, where there is room for as many as 6,000 wells, according to PA DCNR. If all of those wells are drilled and developed, approximately 25,000 forested acres would be converted for roads, pipeline right of ways, and well pads. As of October, PA DCNR had approved more than 1,000 Marcellus wells on state forests and nearly 600 of them — clustered on about 230 well pads — had been drilled.
According to the PA DEP online permit report, the Wolf administration permitted 22 shale gas wells for five counties in just three days from January 21-23. One of those well permits, Chief Oil’s Teel 4H, is within a mile of a cluster of 19 water wells in Dimock, PA that were spoiled by gas drilling in 2008.
Ray Kemble, a Dimock resident with contaminated water said, “Keeping 700,000 acres of our public lands on the table for the drillers is like letting quarterback Tom Brady keep his deflated footballs for the Super Bowl. This is the Big Game and Tom Wolf is blowing it. I have a front row seat.”
energy-justice-networkThe 22 new well permits last week were granted to operators including Chevron, Rex Energy, Cabot Oil & Gas, Chesapeake Energy, Chief Oil, and EQT. Combined, the six drilling companies have been cited for 118 well casing failures by PA DEP, according to a report by Energy Justice Network. Steel and cement well casing failures endanger water supplies across the state.
In his inaugural speech, Wolf addressed anti-fracking demonstrators saying, “To the protesters here today, I say: help me develop these opportunities in a way that is clean, safe and sustainable.”
Allison Petryk, a Susquehanna County resident who was arrested while chanting “Ban fracking now!” during his speech, said, “The compendium of scientific studies that convinced New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to ban fracking shows that it cannot be done safely. Without further action to reclaim already damaged lands, transition to clean energy, and ban shale development across Pennsylvania, Wolf’s words lack substance.”
The following Democrats are the climate-change deniers who voted with every Republican in the Senate yesterday to pass the Keystone Pipeline Bill:
Bob Casey—PA. Clearly this guy’s not on Wolf’s side in this debate.
Tom Carper—Del.
Joe Manchin—W, Va.
Mark Warner—Va.
Claire McCaskill—Mo.
Joe Donnelly—Ind.
Heidi Heitkamp—N.D.
Michael Bennet—Colo.
John Tester—Mont.
Tom Udall—N. Mex.
All of these pro-Wall Street, climate-change denying, scumbags have something else in common. They all support Hillary for president.
Yes, that Hillary. The weasel who wouldn’t take a position on the Keystone pipeline.