DOE reps get the local word on gas drilling
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The auditorium seats at Washington & Jefferson College started filling in nine hours before the panelists arrived. When they finally did, they were shuffled in through a back door and then shuttled to a hotel as soon as the event ended -- more than four hours and 100 speakers later.
The five representatives from the Department of Energy's Natural Gas Subcommittee were visiting Western Pennsylvania for a listening tour before they offer suggestions to President Barack Obama and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu on how to regulate the natural gas industry.
It's a tour that has turned them into heroes, villains and scapegoats.
The deciders of Mr. Obama's plan for the industry that is overwhelming communities in the Marcellus Shale region may never have had so much attention in their lives. A lot of people care about what these rock stars of a more literal sort end up reporting to Mr. Chu in August on the public and environmental effects of natural gas drilling.
The panel's findings will affect all shale plays, not just Marcellus, but that meeting in nearby Washington, Pa., attended by five of the seven subcommittee members, quickly became a referendum on the neighbor-versus-neighbor disputes playing out among local landowners.
The panelists on stage were blasted by extreme emotion from both sides, called spineless bureaucrats one minute and distinguished advisors the next. Protesters mockingly waved wads of cash above their heads to mark the panelists' high salaries. Yet even when called out by name, no panelist poker face budged.
The Natural Gas Subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board has attracted serious attention in polarized Western Pennsylvania. Anti-drilling advocacy groups have called the 12-member board a sham, with a heavy tilt toward the industry that will inevitably lead to pro-industry rulings.
Energy department officials disagree. "The subcommittee is balanced with respect to experience and expertise and each member is well qualified when it comes to technical and practical knowledge," the DOE said in a statement.
A look at the panelists' resumes and several filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission does show numerous intersections with energy businesses, although any connection could be considered inevitable when dealing with officials who have worked in the energy field for several decades. Some serve as directors of energy companies heavily invested in natural gas development -- and are often paid six-figure salaries for their time.
First Published June 26, 2011 12:09 am
