Green Party Calls on DEP to Regulate Gas Drillers
Posted by: hillarya on Dec 01, 2008 - 03:31 PM
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Earlier this month, in two separate events in Northeast Pennsylvania, industry representatives tried to put profit over people and the environment. Referring to what they call extensive paperwork and permit application time, gas drilling companies called the state’s regulatory processes burdensome.
“What the corporations call ‘burdensome,’ I call ‘safeguarding people and the planet,’” said Green Party of Pennsylvania chairperson Hillary Aisenstein. “We all know what happens to industries that run loose without sufficient regulation. The issue here is clean and safe drinking water.”
At a State Senate Majority Policy Committee meeting in Dallas earlier this month, Wendy Straatman, President of Exco-North Coast Energy Inc., told the Senators that her company has moved drilling equipment to West Virginia due to the permitting process in Pennsylvania.
On Wednesday, November 19, at a forum in Wilkes-Barre sponsored by Chesapeake Appalachia, corporate executives claimed revenues were being denied the Commonwealth due to regulatory excess. The representatives of the drilling industry also spoke out against a fee on extracted gas. Pennsylvania is the only state with significant natural resources that does not tax the extraction of those resources.
The Green Party of Pennsylvania calls on the PA Department of Environmental Protection to do it's job and stand up to the natural gas drilling companies. "Just who is the boss here?" asks Jay Sweeney Green Party Treasurer and former candidate for State Representative. "These companies are looking to do business in our Commonwealth. We have every right to demand that they meet strict criteria to keep our water clean and we insist that DEP implement policies to do ensure their compliance."
Last week, The Scranton Times agreed. In an editorial entitled, “Drilling ‘hurdles’ serve purpose,” the paper declared that “environmental protection must remain a greater priority than haste.” (http://www.scrantontimes.com/articles/2008/11/24/editorial/sc_times_trib.20081124.a.pg14.tt24edit1_s1.2108197_edi.txt)
Interest in drilling for natural gas in Pennsylvania has been one of the hottest energy developments in the U.S. in 2008. An initial wave of over 900 PA drilling permits was approved in June; however, as gasoline prices fall the relative appeal and profitability of natural gas is diminishing. Drilling companies are now looking to relaxed regulation in order to ensure a profit.
The Green Party of Pennsylvania, <www.gpofpa.org>, is an independent political party founded on the four pillars of grassroots democracy, social justice, ecological wisdom and nonviolence.
To read the Green Party of Pennsylvania’s full statement on natural gas drilling, visit: http://www.gpofpa.org/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=17
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