04/22/24 - 117 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA: http://tinyurl.com/9bh4zbtr
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DCNR Releases Background Memos On State Forest Leasing To Senate Committee
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In response to a request by Sen. Mary Jo White (R-Venango), Majority Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources provided the Committee with background memos it sent to Gov. Rendell and Budget Secretary Mary Soderberg expressing concerns about leasing additional State Forest land for drilling dating back to March 2009. In a March 2009 memo to the Governor, then DCNR Secretary Michael DiBerardinis said, "wholesale leasing will damage our State Forest landscape. It would scar the economic, scenic, ecologicial and recreational values of the forest-- especially the most wild and remote areas of our state in the Pennsylvania Wilds. Your years of work and investments in rural economic revitalization through outdoor experiences in the Pennsylvania Wilds could be erased."
The memo goes on to say additional drilling threatens the certification of the State Forests as sustainably managed (and the 70,000 jobs that depend on the forests).
"One hundred years ago, the land that would become the state's forests was a denuded landscape that was scarred by rampant resource extration. Our State Forest system-- the largest swath of publicly owned land east of the Mississippi River-- grew from a visionary effort to reclaim this landscape and restore to Pennsylvania's citizens their natural birthright. A rush to drill places the state forest and all its benefits at great risk. A course of balanced management will protect and enhance the legacy we inherited and allow us to deliver it safely to future generations of Pennsylvanians."
Secretary DiBerardinis cautioned future leases may not generate the kind of revenue seen in the first lease of Marcellus Shale rights in 2008.
Later in October the General Assembly and Gov. Rendell agreed to leasing additional State Forest land to bring in a minimum of $60 million to balance the FY 2009-10 budget and another $180 million to put in the General Fund for the FY 2010-11 budget.
In May 2009 Acting DCNR Secretary John Quigley wrote to Budget Secretary Mary Soderberg saying his agency was comfortable leasing another 40,000 acres of State Forest land. He said DCNR would have to do additional studies to come up with "acreage beyond that 40K that is marketable and whose leasing would not negatively impact investments we have made in State Forest land infrastructure, ecotourism and that would not have negative environmental consequences."
A few days later, Acting Secretary Quigley wrote to the Budget Secretary again saying after further study, his agency could lease another 40,000 acres in FY 2009-10, but "these would likely be the last gas lease sale on State Forest land that we could manage within the context of our sustainable certification for the foreseeable future.
"Field staff who are charged with managing exploration activity on State Forest land are deeply concerned about any new leases. With limited personnel and budgetary resources, we will be over eextended in attempting to management activity on the 660,000 acres of State Forest land currently available for exploration; the addition of 80,000 acres will only add to the challenge."
In January of this year, State Forest land Marcellus Shale leases on 31,000 acres generated $128.3 million in revenue for the state. The 2008 leasing of 74,000 acres generated $190 million.
DCNR is planning to lease additional State Forest lands by the end of May.
Copies of the memos are available on the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee webpage.
Related Stories
Environmental Defense Foundation Files Notice Of Lawsuit On State Forest Gas Leasing
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3/29/2010 |
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