DCNR holds off auction for public review
Environmentalists might not be the only ones taking umbrage with government plans to drill for oil and other resources in wildlife preserves. Pennsylvanians will be able to join the fray after the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources voted in late April to postpone a natural gas lease auction for 500,000 acres of state forest and park lands to allow the public to review the plans. The online bidding was originally scheduled to Wednesday and Thursday.
Fayette County is one of seven counties in the state targeted for natural gas drilling due to its location along the Trenton-Black River formation, a porous rock structure believed to hold vast quantities of natural gas.
However, according to district forester Ed Callahan, those who use the nearly 10,000 acres of Forbes State Forest within the county can rest easy, because drilling will not significantly disturb the parks.
He said that the lands fall under a unique, non-development clause that prohibits prospectors from constructing gas wells or other invasive structures in the forest. Additionally, they will be forbidden from performing any surface activity in state parks or natural areas.
“There are no development rights on Forbes State Forest,” Callahan said. “Legally, we’ll have the strongest and best lease. I won’t say it (drilling) won’t affect us, but we’ve really not had any problems with it.”
According to Callahan, the area within Forbes State Forest that would be affected lies in Wharton Township, east of Laurel Caverns.
DCNR opted to delay the auctions April 25 after its advisory council determined that the public did not receive ample warning of the plans.
“We’ve been doing these things throughout the state for more than 60 years,” Callahan said. “Since this was such a big one, we thought we probably should have brought it up ahead of time.”
The pending auction, which either will be approved or dismissed by July 31 after the public review period, constitutes the largest auction of subsurface mineral rights in state history, according to DCNR.
“Although we’ve been leasing gas rights for more than 50 years, we recognize there is an increased concern over this lease because of the amount of state forestland under consideration,” DCNR Secretary John Oliver said. “Even though we followed our standard procedure with this release, we should have made our plans known well in advance. It became clear the public did not view this lease as ‘standard.’
“We want to take a step back to share our processes with the public and allow those interested a chance to further review these plans.”
However, Callahan indicated that he has heard no public concern over the proposed land leases, even though the lands receive steady recreational use during the summer.
“I have not had one phone call in the office about this,” he said. “I think it’s a part of living around here. There’s already a lot of pipelines in place around here.”
DCNR intends to conduct outreach sessions in coming months to explain the details of the gas lease and the history of gas drilling on state gamelands. The agency also is developing a Web site for further details. The public comment period is slated to end June 15.
Callahan said that no meetings have been scheduled locally yet, however.