Environmental Groups Cite Problems with Scarnati Marcellus Bill

(Harrisburg) – Five environmental organizations representing well over 100,000 Pennsylvanians wrote to State Senators Friday highlighting several problems with Senator Scarnati’s proposed Marcellus Shale legislation, SB 1100. Two main areas of concern were cited on the bill which is still in negotiation between Senate Republicans and Democrats prior to a predicted floor vote this week. Clean Water Action, Sierra Club, PennEnvironment, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and Earthworks all signed the letter which was sent to all State Senators.

The first area of concerns are provisions that are being prepared that would reduce municipal authority to zone and otherwise restrict gas drilling activities in their townships. While the PA Supreme Court has ruled that the PA Oil and Gas Act gives municipalities the right to zone gas drilling as it would any industry, it has long been a goal of the oil and gas industry to strip municipal rights to zone gas wells. In addition to SB 1100, State House leadership is considering similar legislation to eliminate local zoning control over the oil and gas industry.
Dozens of municipalities across Pennsylvania have enacted, or are in the process of enacting, local ordinances for a wide variety of reasons. Some keep drilling out of residential zones in their townships, others establish special setbacks from schools, some simply ensure that local officials have some say in how gas development occurs in their area.

"It is essential that municipalities are able to use local zoning to protect residents; for legislators to steal away this right for gas drilling, destroys local officials' ability to meet their responsibilities and flies in the face of community planning. This effort to impose a super-ordinance that guts municipal powers must be stopped to protect residents where they live," said Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director, Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

"It is critical to secure much-needed protections for people and the environment through legislation, and high time that Pennsylvania's Oil and Gas Act is revised to do to," said Nadia Steinzor of Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability Project. "But it would be wrong to achieve this gain at the expense of the ability of local communities to do what it takes to protect themselves."

The second area of concerns is the insufficient setback provisions in SB 1100 for public and private drinking water supplies. While all sides in the debate acknowledge that the current 200 foot setback does not provide protection, SB 1100 only increases the private well setback to 500 feet and public water supplies to 1,000 feet. The environmental groups are asking for a minimum 3,000 foot setback for all water supplies, with greater distances providing some buffer for safety.

Two recent studies, one by the state legislature sponsored Center for Rural Pennsylvania and a peer reviewed study by Duke University, both found that water contamination can occur as far as 3,000 feet from a Marcellus Shale gas well. These studies provide a clear scientific basis for establishing a setback provision for drinking water supplies.

Myron Arnowitt, PA State Director for Clean Water Action, stated, “We often hear from the Corbett Administration and the Marcellus Shale Coalition that we should have policies that are fact based, and not fear based. It’s time for them to live up to their words and enact the protections that are supported by the facts on the ground.”

The full text of the letter to the State Senate can be found here.