Opinion- Short-Term Gains From Natural Gas Drilling Hurt State In Long Run

The budget deal that legislators and the governor are debating puts at risk one of Pennsylvania's greatest natural assets -- our state forest system -- and undermines economic development efforts that stand to benefit hundreds of rural communities.

One of the measures that's on the table to help close the budget gap is leasing large amounts of state forest land for drilling to extract gas from the Marcellus shale deposits that underlie most of northern and western Pennsylvania.

Exactly how much land is at stake is unclear.

Some have proposed leasing as much as 390,000 acres, but current negotiations put the figure at about 100,000 acres this year and at least that much in subsequent years. Officials at the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the agency that manages state forests, say this is more than the system can reasonably handle.

John Quigley, acting secretary of DCNR, says drilling on that scale "would forever alter the character of our state forests."

Some 660,000 acres of state forest land already are open to oil and gas drilling, and any further expansion of fossil fuel extraction within Pennsylvania's public land must be based on study and a full understanding of the environmental, fiscal and community impacts, not as a hurried budget-plugging measure.

The impacts likely will be substantial, as our colleagues in conservation and environmental organizations have argued.

The website Drilling Has Consequences maintained by Pennsylvania Land Trust Association on behalf of 90 supporting organizations, lists the potential impacts as: "pipelines, drilling pads and wastewater pits scarring our landscapes, air pollution from every stage of production, heavy rigs damaging our roads, billions of gallons of water taken from our streams, and operational errors contaminating our land and water."

As an organization that promotes land-use policies to help the state build a competitive economy, 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania supports well-planned strategic use of irreplaceable resources, both environmental and fiscal. We also understand and respect Pennsylvania's long tradition of managing state forests for multiple use.

The issue here is not whether we should use our valuable state land for economic purposes, but how we should do so. Trading public land for unproved, short-term economic gain would continue an unfortunate practice that has degraded Pennsylvania in many well-documented ways.

Wholesale gas drilling on state forests also would undermine the commonwealth's recent investments in economic development. Outdoor recreation is the fastest-growing segment of the tourism market, and increasing numbers of visitors are attracted to Pennsylvania's vast forest lands.

In light of this fact, DCNR is working with other agencies to implement a series of conservation landscape initiatives designed to leverage the tourism value of our public land. In one part of the state, the 12-county Pennsylvania Wilds region of north central Pennsylvania, DCNR has spent more than $140 million over six years to construct elk-watching facilities, build trails, upgrade state parks and enhance the experience of visitors to the region.

Other agencies have made complementary investments in tourism marketing, infrastructure improvements and environmental restoration projects. Research shows that these investments already are paying off in terms of increased visitation, visitor spending, tourism-related employment and tax revenues in a part of the state that desperately needs new economic opportunities.

By rushing to open tens of thousands of additional acres of state forest land to gas drilling, however, the state risks killing the goose that lays the golden egg of tourism. Excessive drilling will permanently change the aesthetics of the state forests, restrict access to trails, disturb habitat, interfere with hunting and fishing, and generally make our public lands less attractive to visitors.

Our state forests should be managed to benefit all Pennsylvanians, and that includes extracting resources in ways that are compatible with sound environmental stewardship. Let's not balance the budget on the back of our public land without understanding how much drilling the forests can handle and taking steps to minimize the impacts.

Edward Wilson is vice president of 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, the state's leading voice for great places to live and work.