Red flags raised over gas wells
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Pennsylvania needs tougher regulations for Marcellus shale gas drilling, aggressive, independent enforcement, and a severance tax on the gas extracted, according to state Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger.
And yesterday would not be soon enough to get all of that done and "done right" to protect the state's water resources, said Mr. Hanger in a forceful keynote speech opening the Marcellus Shale Policy Conference at Duquesne University on Monday.
"Let me be clear: Self-regulation doesn't work. That's not contestable," Mr. Hanger told the audience of about 250, including a significant number of gas industry representatives. "We've made mistakes before. We have to get this right or the costs will overwhelm the benefits."
Citing environmental damage done by Pennsylvania's early history of unregulated coal mining, the oil well disaster and widening slick in the Gulf of Mexico and the 29 dead miners at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, Mr. Hanger challenged state legislators, regulators and the natural gas industry not to allow those kinds of mistakes to happen again.
"Rules matter. The philosophy of the staff matters. And what is needed is the right rules and the right staff with the independence to enforce those rules," Mr. Hanger said. "Also needed are companies with the right culture that want to do things the right way. We have some of those, as well as some at the other end and some in the middle."
He said there's no such thing as "zero impact drilling" and said he will push for stronger regulations to protect Pennsylvania's rivers and creeks from extremely salty well wastewater pollution, tougher and more comprehensive well construction standards, rules limiting toxic air pollution from wells and compressor pumping stations, and bigger bonds to cover capping of wells when they stop producing.
First Published May 4, 2010 12:00 am
