Leasing of PA state land for natural gas drilling

Here is a link to the transcript about the PA House Majority Policy Committee’s public hearing regarding the leasing of state and for gas drilling.

http://www.pahouse.com/policycommittee/documents/31810hmpc.pdf

What PA residents think of Range Resources

Here is some excellent video of the meeting with range Resources that took place in Washington County, PA today. Thanks txSharon!

http://txsharon.blogspot.com/2010/04/7-videos-what-pa-residents-thinks-of.html

Stand up for what you believe in – You know what’s at stake!

Pittsburgh – Philadelphia – Ohiopyle – Harrisburg

It’s time to show up and be counted

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR OUR STATE FORESTS

Stand up for what you believe in – You know what’s at stake!

Be a Hero for our Forests
Attend an event to show your support for protecting our precious state forests from further natural gas drilling and for an impact fee to ensure drillers pay their fair share

Currently the state legislature is moving forward with a budget plan that relies on new natural gas drilling leases on state forest land to cover the budget shortfall – threatening our public natural resources and compromising public access to our forest land.

We need forest heroes- our legislators and Governor Rendell must pledge not to support a budget that relies in drilling in forests. Instead, they need to enact a gas extraction impact fee to pay for the damage to natural resources and communities that drilling causes. Our legislators need to support the impact fee and the Save our Forests legislation (HB 2235), which puts a five year freeze on new deep natural gas drilling leases in state forests.

Come to one of these events to stand up for our forests:

April 14, 12:15 – 12:45 p.m. – Philadelphia
Demonstration to Save Pennsylvania’s Forests
Gov. Rendell’s Southeast Office
200 South Broad Street (near Broad and Walnut).
Join us during your lunch hour as we conduct a fun demonstration with a local arts group to show support our remarkable state forests.

April 15, 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. – Ricketts Glen
Picnic in Ricketts Glen State Park to Save Pennsylvania’s Forests
Rickets Glen State Park Picnic Pavilion #2
695 State Route 487, Benton, PA 17814
Gather your friends and family and join us for a relaxing lunch in the park to show your support for protecting our state forests and to simply enjoy the beauty of Ricketts Glen State Park.

April 17, 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.- Philadelphia
Annual PennFuture Watershed Workshop: Bold Action to Protect Water Quality in Philadelphia and Beyond
Friends Center, 1501 Cherry St, Philadelphia, PA 19102
This workshop will discuss changes Philadelphia is making to ensure the health of our waterways and take a look at Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling, and why it is relevant to local water quality.

April 20, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.- Pittsburgh
Rally for the Trees to Save Pennsylania’s Forests
Portico steps of the City-County Building, 414 Grant St, Pittsburgh, PA  15219.
Grab your friends and spend your lunch hour showing your support for Pennsylania’s state forests.

April 20, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. – Ohiopyle
Celebrate Our Forests – and learn more about gas drilling
Ohiopyle Stewart Community Center
15 Sherman Street, Ohiopyle, PA 15470
Learn more about natural gas drilling – what it is and what the impacts will be – and share your stories about what our state forests mean to you.  We’ll deliver your stories to elected officials on Earth Day in Harrisburg.

April 22, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. – Harrisburg
Earth Day Rally to Protect Penn’s Woods
Pennsylvania State Capitol Main Rotunda
Gather your friends, postcards, and signs and join us in a rally encouraging our legislators to protect Penn’s Woods.

Coordinator www.PaForestCoalition.org

Pennsylvania lawmakers say bill that halts drilling in Marcellus Shale aims to protect forests

By DONALD GILLILAND, The Patriot-News

March 28, 2010, 7:38PM

Pennsylvania lawmakers should learn from history and from Dr. Seuss, said Robert F. Davey Jr., a retired forester with 38 years of experience in Penn’s Woods. The state’s forests were decimated by rampant logging in the 19th century and a number of its streams were polluted by unrestricted mining, Davey said. He compared those scenarios to “The Lorax” by Seuss, the tale of a species of trees being nearly wiped out, with only one seed remaining.  Davey said lawmakers should be careful when profiting from the Marcellus gas boom “so that future generations won’t be saddled with mistakes we made because of a myopic view of natural-resource limitations or outright greed.”

To read the full article with comments, click here:

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/03/pennsylvania_lawmakers_claim_b.html

Split Estate Free Showing at Mansfield University

Professor Russell Dodson at Mansfield University has arranged a free, public showing of the documentary ‘Split Estate’, on the risks and dangers of natural gas drilling. Our Tioga County Planner, Jim Weaver will be present to take questions.

Tell everyone you know!

Time: Monday, March 29th at 7PM.

Place: 153 Grant Science Center, Mansfield University

PennDOT Closing Elk Run Road to Gas Well Traffic

PennDOT is advising motorists in Tioga County that State Route 3001
(Elk Run Road) in Gaines Township is being temporarily closed to gas
well traffic due to severe deterioration.

The road is open to local traffic only until repairs are made.

Responsible parties are being contacted to facilitate repairs to restore
the roadway to a safe and passable condition for the traveling public.

This road carries a year-round, 10-ton weight restriction.

Gas and Taxes

Pennsylvania and New York are the only two oil and gas producing states which don’t levy a severance
tax. In Texas (the Barnett Shale) they don’t have a state income tax thanks to their severance tax and in
Alaska not only do they not have a state income tax but every resident gets an annual check.
Pennsylvanians may not be able to secure the same benefits as Texas or Alaska but why wouldn’t we
want to get something out of this?
Having a Severance tax in place is of the utmost importance. Without one we are left to deal with these
questions. Should the highly profitable gas industry or Pennsylvania’s tax payers foot the bill for proper
monitoring and inspections? What about the damage to our roads, contaminated well water and
pollution to our beautiful streams and forests? Who should reap the most benefit from Pennsylvania’s
natural gas – outside speculators or its citizens? Is there a reasonable alternative to a severance tax for
achieving any of this? The gas industry pays as little as it can for our gas, shouldn’t we be
taxing their profits at the highest rate we can? Isn’t the Marcellus Shale, and more importantly the land
and people above it, worth just as much as the Barnett Shale?

Most of us are aware that Pennsylvania has not enacted a Severance tax yet. If your not familiar with this issue or have not looked into it for a while then this should help get you updated on it

The Pennsylvania Legislature is debating whether the state should levy a severance tax on the extraction of natural gas to help reimburse state and local governments for environmental, infrastructure, and societal costs imposed by the industry. Until recently, Pennsylvania has had a modest natural gas extraction industry…. One of the central claims of critics regarding the proposed tax is that it is unneeded as drillers here “face the highest corporate tax rate in the nation.” A closer look at the evidence shows that this is not the case for most companies. In fact, the drillers of more than 70% of the wells in the Marcellus Shale will pay the state’s 3.07% Personal Income Tax (PIT) rather than the 9.99% Corporate Net Income Tax (CNIT).i The following table lists all companies with permits to operate wells in the Marcellus Shale and highlights the firms that are paying the lower PIT rate. ….

To read the rest of this report and view the table, click here:

http://pennbpc.org/sites/pennbpc.org/files/Over 70 Percent of Marcellus Shale Wells Pay PIT.pdf

EQT Announces Strategic Marcellus Acreage Acquisition

Here is an interesting report that came to me by way of the Responsible Drilling Alliance (RDA) in Williamsport, PA.

There have been numerous announcements on various websites about  EQT Corp. acquiring acreage for drilling and other gas extraction activities. Most have indicated this acquisition is an outright purchase of the land – rather than a long-term lease. Below is what POGAM (Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Association – an industry alliance) and EQT say about this acquisition. The links for each announcement lead to the full releases from EQT and POGAM.

If EQT’s acquisition is an outright purchase and not a lease, this is appears to be a new (or at least an increasing) way to acquire rights to drill in the Marcellus Shale. And it is something that taxpayers and landowners need to be aware of. If oil and gas companies end up owning large chunks of our state, particularly in places adjacent to privately-owned residential areas, what will be the outcome long-term? Will big oil and gas, out-of-area corporations, care as much as locals do for public health, safety, the environment and the local economy?

If anyone receiving this message can clarify the nature of this EQT acquisition – purchase, lease, something in-between – please send that clarification to me.

EQT’s announcement:

EQT Announces Strategic Marcellus Acreage Acquisition;

Increases EUR per Marcellus Well;

Provides Update on Latest Marcellus Well

PITTSBURGH, March 2, 2010/ PRNewswire-FirstCall/ –EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT) today

announced that it will acquire approximately 58,000 net acres in the Marcellus Shale from a group

of private operators and landowners. The acreage is located primarily in Cameron, Clearfield, Elk and

Jefferson counties in Pennsylvania. The purchase includes a 200 mile gathering system, with

associated rights of way, and approximately 100 producing vertical wells.

At closing, EQT will pay approximately $280 million, 90% with EQT stock and 10% with cash.

Following the closing of the acquisition, EQT will hold more than 500,000 net acres in the highpressure

Marcellus shale fairway. The company expects the transaction to close by April 30, subject

to customary closing conditions.

“We are pleased to add to our substantial, firmly held acreage position in the heart of the

Marcellus fairway. We have extensive midstream assets and firm contracts to gather and transport

natural gas to the lucrative eastern markets,” commented Murry Gerber, chairman and chief executive

officer. “ ….

To read the full EQT release, click here:

http://www.eqt.com/docs/pdf/pressRelease/20100302.pdf

POGAM’s announcement:

EQT announces Marcellus acreage acquisition, ups per-well production estimate

PITTSBURGH, PA (3/3/2010) – EQT Corporation announced it will acquire approximately 58,000 net acres in the Marcellus Shale from a group of private operators and landowners. The acreage is located primarily in Cameron, Clearfield, Elk and Jefferson counties in Pennsylvania. The purchase includes a 200-mile gathering system, with associated rights of way, and approximately 100 producing vertical wells.

At closing, EQT will pay approximately $280 million, 90 percent with EQT stock and 10 percent with cash. Following the closing of the acquisition, EQT will hold more than 500,000 net acres in the high-pressure Marcellus shale fairway. The company expects the transaction to close by April 30….

To read the full POGAM release, click here:

http://www.pogam.org/news/view.asp?pID=1334

Natural Gas: Not as clean as you think

Just in case you’ve seen the television ads being run by ANGA (America’s Natural Gas Alliance) and think they are telling you the whole story….here’s some of the other side.

http://wilderness.org/content/natural-gas-not-clean-you-think

Mayor of Dish, TX to speak in Elmira, NY.

The  Mayor of Dish, TX, Calvin Tillman,  will be in Elmira Heights this Saturday, Feb 20th to speak out about the air and water contamination problems they are having and have had in Dish due to natural gas drilling in the Barnett Shale.

The presentation will be held from 8:30am to 10:55am and has been relocated to the Heights Theater at 210 E. 14th Street in Elmira Heights. It is free and open to the public.