Natural gas drillers need to be responsible for clean water
Published: February 5, 2010
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Exploitation of the Marcellus Shale natural gas field in Pennsylvania has entered the boom stage. The state government still is behind the curve in ensuring that the commonwealth fairly shares in its natural wealth, and in ensuring that gas is extracted with the least possible impact on the environment. Last week Gov. Ed Rendell revealed some developments indicating that the state is, finally, serious about catching up. According to the governor, the gas industry has told regulators that it anticipates applying for 5,200 gas-drilling permits in 2010, more than three times the number that drillers sought in 2009. It is good news, then that the Department of Environmental Protection will hire 68 more inspectors and technicians to complement the 37 inspectors and support staff who were hired last year specifically to monitor the industry. Funding for the staff expansion will come from increased permit fees authorized in 2009. In response to some of the findings of more than 14,000 inspections at drilling sites, the DEP also will upgrade well-construction standards in an effort to prevent gas leaks into groundwater and drinking water supplies. All to the good. But water quality is an area in which Congress also can help. The Marcellus Shale underlies at least four states, and it is one of several deep shale formations around the country that has become accessible because of advanced horizontal drilling technology. Last summer Sen. Bob Casey introduced the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals, or FRAC Act, while a group of representatives from gas-producing states introduced a companion measure in the House. It would reverse a Bush-era exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act for oil and gas producers. And it would require drillers to disclose the exact mix of chemicals that they use in hydraulic fracturing, by which they free gas trapped in rock. Both houses should pass the bill. Oil and gas drillers are the only industry exempted from clean water regulations. Compliance with those standards should be fundamental for all industrial enterprises. The governor also said he again would ask the Legislature to adopt a "severance" tax on extracted gas, which the House passed last year but which the Senate rejected. Although these changes are new to Pennsylvania, they are not unusual within the industry, which deals with them in other states as the cost of doing business. Given the rapid growth of the industry in Pennsylvania, it’s time for regulators and the Legislature to catch up to the curve.
