The House Democratic Policy Committee Monday heard concerns about Gov. Tom Corbett's proposal to expand gas drilling in state parks and forests to raise an additional $75 million to balance the budget.

The hearing, which was organized by Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware), Minority Chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, also addressed concerns about the increasing use of the Oil and Gas Lease Fund for non-conservation purposes and drilling's impacts on Loyalsock State Forest.

“More drilling in our state parks and forests is the wrong way to raise revenue,” said Rep. Vitali, who supports a severance tax on gas drilling to raise additional revenue.

On May 23 Gov. Corbett issued an Executive Order last week laying out the ground rules for any new drilling on State Forest or State Park lands. 

The new order replaces an Executive Order Gov. Rendell issued in 2010 just weeks before the November gubernatorial election imposing a moratorium on additional leasing on DCNR lands.  Prior to the Order, Gov. Rendell leased over 137,000 acres of State Forest land for Marcellus Shale drilling.

At the Committee hearing, Gov. Rendell’s former Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary John Quigley called Gov. Corbett’s Order bad public policy.

"The moratorium attempted to prevent further abuse of the Commonwealth's most sensitive lands -- lands that belong, as our state constitution says 'to all the people, including generations yet to come',” Quigley said. "Gov. Rendell did the right thing in signing the moratorium. And I continue to believe, as I did then, that any additional leasing of public lands would be a grave mistake, both ecologically and economically."

The hearing also focused on increasing disbursement from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund for non-conservation purposes.

Money raised from the leases is placed in the Oil and Gas Lease Fund, which was created to provide money for conservation, recreation and flood control projects.

Gov. Rendell transferred over $383 million in Marcellus Shale leasing payments and royalties to the General Fund to help balance the state budget and some to pay for day-to-day operations of State Parks and State Forests.

During a hearing of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee in 2009 after the announcement of additional State Forest land for leasing, Quigley said DCNR does not have the resources to police State Forest Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling as it ramps up over the next few years.

The Corbett administration followed the same policy of using oil and gas monies to pay for day-to-day operations.  An estimated $227 million in oil and gas funds will be used to pay for State Park and State Forest operations, if the Governor’s proposed budget is approved.

Royalties or other payments resulting from any leasing under Gov. Corbett’s new Executive Order are required to be used by DCNR to--

-- repair and improve upon the infrastructure and amenities of the state forest and state park systems;

-- prioritize and acquire high-value in-holding lands, indentures and areas of high conservation value or ecological importance; and

-- prioritize and acquire privately-owned oil, natural gas, and other mineral rights underlying high-value surface lands owned by DCNR.

Attorney John E. Childe said that is not proper use of that money, according to a 2004 Pennsylvania Auditor General report during the Rendell Administration.

"The Auditor General report stated that expenditures for items such as salaries, clothing and other costs do not appear to be within the purposes set out in the Oil and Gas Lease Fund Act and were of questionable direct benefit to the physical enhancement and conservation of state parks and state forests, the intended beneficiaries of the revenues in the Oil and Gas Lease Fund, and therefore were inappropriate or unjustified," Childe said.

Meanwhile, committee members heard concerns about drilling in Loyalsock State Forest. Loyalsock is an 114,000-acre forest in Bradford, Lycoming and Sullivan counties. It is home to Old Loggers Path, one of the state’s best hiking trails, and Rock Run, an exceptional value stream.

Anadarko and Southwestern Energy intend to drill in a section of the forest called the Clarence Moore lands where the Commonwealth owns the surface rights and the companies own the mineral rights.

"Across Pennsylvania, people who value the ecological and recreational value of the commonwealth's state forests and take seriously DCNR's duties as trustees of the Loyalsock for the benefit of all Pennsylvanians, including future generations, oppose development," said Mark Szybist, staff attorney for PennFuture. "This is because the Clarence Moore lands contain a wealth of natural resources."

Szybist said the state should block drilling in the Clarence Moore lands by denying the companies a right-of-way to the surface.

Also testifying were PennFuture Vice President and former DCNR State Parks Director John Norbeck; Sierra Club of Pennsylvania Chapter Director Joanne Kilgour; and Keystone Trails Association Executive Director Curt Ashenfelter.

DCNR Secretary Ellen Ferretti, Pennsylvania Budget Secretary Charles Zogby, Corbett Energy Executive Patrick Henderson, DCNR Parks Director Dan Devlin and representatives from Anadarko were invited to testify, but declined.

Click Here for a fact sheet on Gov. Corbett’s new Executive Order on Non-surface Disturbance Leasing of DCNR Lands issued last week.  For more information, visit DCNR’s Natural Gas Development and State Forests webpage.

NewsClips:

DCNR Told Corbett Not To Lease More Forest Land For Drilling

Official Tells Court: No One At DCNR Recommended Gas Leasing

Corbett’s Own Witness Lukewarm To More Gas Leasing

Leasing More State Land For Gas Drilling Not Sustainable

Rendell Appointee: Leasing More State Land Not Sustainable

Letter: Corbett Aide Responds To Patriot-News Leasing Editorial

Poll: Pennsylvanians Favor Drilling, But Not In Parks

Poll: Pennsylvanians Support Fracking, Not In Parks

Poll: Pennsylvanians Favor Drilling, But Not On Public Lands

Voters Back Fracking, But Not In State Parks

6/9/2014