You Can Monitor Oil and Gas Activity on Public Land: Subscribe to SkyTruth Allegheny Defense Project (ADP) has initiated a partnership with SkyTruth. You can too! SkyTruth has created a valuable, GIS subscription service which provides environmental advocates, like you, with the information necessary to protect the places we all care about...Read More...

No Drilling Without Protection for Communities! No to HB 1950 and SB 1100! A Call to Action By the Friends of South Fayette As you may be aware on Wednesday, December 14th 2011, the state Senate debated House Bill 1950, then voted in favor to pass the bill and forwarded it to the state House of Representatives for passage. Because of action by citizens like you lawmakers voted "not to concur" with HB 1950 which will trigger more negotiation in 2012 on this inherently flawed legislation...Read More...

Winter Outing 2012: Join Us for a Backpack Hike and Camp at Tracy Ridge on Feb 4th! The purpose of the 2012 Winter Outing is to gain winter camping experience and to enjoy our beautiful winter weather. We will meet at 3PM on February 4, 2012 at a small parking lot just north of the entrance to Tracy Ridge on the west side of Route 321. We plan to break camp by 1PM on February 5, 2012...Read More...

Public Lands Action Team (PLAT) Meeting in Pittsburgh February 18, 2012. Join the Action Team to Protect Public Lands! On Saturday, February 18, 4:00 PM, the Allegheny Group of the Sierra Club will be hosting a meeting of the Public Lands Action Team (PLAT) in their office at 425 N Craig St Suite 202, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. The purpose of the meeting is to form a PLAT in Pittsburgh with the Allegheny Group of the PA Sierra Club and to educate everyone about public land issues, actions, and outings for 2012. Speakers will include Ernie Reed of Heartwood, Bill Belitskus board president of Allegheny Defense Project (ADP), Cathy Pedler ADP Forest Watch Coordinator, and Matt Peters who serves as a board member for both organizations...Read More...

Help Kickstart the Triple Divide Documentary TRIPLE DIVIDE is a new documentary film that lights the shadows about America's quest for energy, where Paradise Found meets the visible hand of natural gas development. Potter County, Pa. (focus of the film) is home to a geological phenomenon called the Triple Divide, one of five widely-recognized in the United States where water drains into three different basins. The headwaters of this Triple Divide are ecological sanctuaries for all things living deep in Appalachia, and provide drinking water for millions of people downstream.....Read More...

State Representative Kathy Rapp's Conflict Of Interest Statement of Financial Interest Reveals Oil and Gas Industry Income. State Representative Kathy Rapp, who represents Warren, Forest, and parts of McKean County, recently introduced legislation aimed at stripping the U.S. Forest Service of authority to regulate and protect the Allegheny National Forest from the impacts of oil and gas drilling. The Allegheny Defense Project claims that Rep. Rapp is using her position in government to promote a company that she benefits from financially even though that company has a track record of violating environmental laws...Read More...

2012 Schedule. Mark Your Calendar! Please pencil-in our events and outings on your calendar and enjoy 2012 with us! Happy New Year! Follow This Link For 2012 Calendar...

Taking The Public Out Of Public Land: Appeals Court Decision Threatens Allegheny National Forest. A recent decision by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals regarding oil and gas drilling on the Allegheny National Forest prompted David C. Fredley to offer his opinion supporting the court's decision. The court held that the Forest Service has almost no authority to protect the Allegheny from oil and gas drilling since it does not own the mineral rights under most of the forest. Several aspects of Mr. Fredley's column, and the court's decision, merit a response. Read more...

Enough Is Enough! Enough is enough, from the lawless marcellus shale gas companies, to a governor elected with gas money and the rogue legislature and agencies that should be working for the people's constitutional right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment...including generations yet to come. Many citizens' families are ill from unconventional hydrocarbon shale gas extraction and hydrofracking. Dr. Goldstein of the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health stated, "...there will be disease clusters and lawsuits..."
Our land grant university, Penn State, is caught taking gas industry money to crank out discredited research to influence public policy in Pennsylvania. Read more...

Fracking The Finger Lakes: Videos Watch Videos from Fracking the Finger Lakes: The Rest of the Story. Bill Belitskus, Sandra Steingraber, David Slottje, Kevin Heatley: Fracking the Finger Lakes, The Rest of the Story. Steingraber explains that the Marcellus Shale is actually a living ecosystem, not a dead, inert layer under our feet. Geologist have just recently fully appreciated the fact that there are more living organisms in the deep strata beneath us than there are in the world’s oceans. Read more...

Democracy School December 3, 2011 The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund will hold a Democracy School on December 3, 2011, at Mount St. Benedict in Erie, PA. The school will be a one day event from 9AM to 5PM Read more...

ANF-ASP Border Work Day October 23, 2011 On October 23 Allegheny Defense Project (ADP), and Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) will work with state surveyors to walk and mark the boundary between the Allegany State Park in New York, and the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania. Location: Meet at 9AM at the NY Allegany State Park Administration Building (Red House Area of the Park). Read more...

18th Annual Fall Gathering At Tracy Ridge The Allegheny Defense Project (ADP) is holding its 18th Annual Fall Gathering at Tracy Ridge in the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) September 16-18. Please join us for camping, hiking, workshops, music, food and fun! Read more...

ANF-ASP Work Day On September 10 Allegheny Defense Project (ADP), and Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) will work with state surveyors to walk and mark the boundary between the Allegany State Park in New York, and the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania. Read more...

A Gathering Remembering Joe On September 11, 2011 at 1PM we will gather to remember our friend Joe Martin. A memorial service will be held at the Mystic Waters Resort. Lunch will follow the service. Read more...

Gasland Coming To Warren And Bradford, PA The Boonies International, an Independent Film Festival at Warren, PA announces the presentation of the Josh Fox film Gasland at the Struthers Library Theatre in Warren, PA on Sunday, June 6, 2010 at 1:30 PM (doors open 1:00 PM); and in Bradford, PA at the University of Pittsburgh at 6:30 PM (doors open at 6:00PM). Warren and Bradford are two of 20 stops on the filmmakers’ grassroots tour with his film through Pennsylvania and New York, in a run-up to its June 21st HBO premiere. The event is part of an ongoing series of independent films being screened in Warren as a means of introducing the community to the world of independent film. Read more...

ADP Investigation of Spill On FR 261 Finds Spill Not Contained By Tank Battery On May 4, 2010, four days after a Howard Drilling oil spill was reported in the Warren Times Observer, “Oil Spill In ANF Contained By Dike,” an Allegheny Defense Project team hiked several miles up gated Forest Service Road FR 261 to investigate the spill.  Upon arriving at a Howard Drilling tank battery, ADP discovered a spill that had, in fact, breached the dike and flowed several hundred feet downhill toward Mud Lick Run. Read more...

Pine Bear: 10,055 Acre Project Area On The Allegheny The  Pine Bear Project, located on 10,055 acres in the southeastern part of the Allegheny National Forest (ANF), proposes approximately 3,000 acres of even-aged logging—1,324 acres of which is clearcuts and 1,781 acres staged clearcuts. Additionally, the project calls for 2,294 acres of other “treatments,” 1,483 acres of herbiciding, 105 acres of burning every 3 to 5 years, over 500 acres of fencing, 12 acres of stone pit expansion, and 2.5 miles of new road.food and fun. Read more...

Rimrock Chainsaw Masacree (And Tracy Ridge Campout) The Allegheny Defense Project spent Earth Day this year with the Friends of Rimrock, Tracy Ridge Forest Watch, and Allegheny Outdoor Adventures, cleaning up Rimrock for the 2010 season.  Our plan was to clear trails, pick up trash, picnic, and do some climbing and rappelling. We expected the trash scattered around - we were not prepared for the heart-wrenching view afforded us at the scenic overlook.Read more...

Earth Day Report This Earth Day we had a busy week. Our speaking schedule took us from Erie to Philadelphia. Allegheny Defense Project Board Members and Staff spoke about the battle to protect the forest ecosystem and the Allegheny River Watershed on the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) and on other public lands in Pennsylvania Read more...

Another Spill On The Allegheny: Howard Drilling, April 2010, 5,400 Gallons. Read more...

Donor Will Give Up To $1,000 In Earth Day Challenge The Allegheny Defense Project needs your help NOW to challenge the rampant oil and gas development currently devastating Pennsylvania's only National Forest. And now is an excellent opportunity to double your contribution. With the help of an anonymous donor, your contribution will be matched dollar for dollar. Read more...

"Kill The Drill" Protest At U.S. Energy's Buffalo Office On Friday April 16, 2010 about 75 citizens convened at the University at Buffalo's North Campus to protest U.S Energy Development Corporation's proposal to drill for oil and natural gas in the Allegany State Park and Allegheny National Forest. Allegheny Defense Project staff and supporters joined the group that marched to U.S Energy Offices at 2350 N Forest Road in Amherst, NY, on the edge of the UB campus. Read more...

April 24th Rimrock and Tracy Ridge Clean-up and Camp-outSponsored by the Friends of Rimrock Coalition and Tracy Ridge Forest Watch.
Clean-up: Saturday April 24, 10am. Rimrock Picnic Area
Camp-out and Night Hike:  Saturday April 24, 5pm. Tracy Ridge Campground Loop C. Come join us in cleaning-up and enjoying Rimrock and Tracy Ridge, two areas the oil and gas industry intends to obliterate with drilling operations. Read more...

Glad Run-South Branch Kinzua Creek: Marcellus Shale Gas Well Planned On Allegheny National Forest. On April 15, 2010, ADP Board President Bill Belitskus and I hiked through the Glad Run Watershed, a tributary of the South Branch of Kinzua Creek near Kane, PA. We are monitoring this area because soon this watershed will be subjected to clear-cutting (North Drive In Timber Sale), shallow well drilling (TEIS Area 8), and deep gas well drilling as East Resources moves forward with its plans to drill a Marcellus Shale Gas well in the headwaters of  the South Branch of Kinzua Creek. Read more...

State Police Join March 20 Oil and Gas Tour On March 20, 2010, a Pennsylvania State Police Officer temporarily blocked the Oil and Gas Issues tour organized as a joint outing of the Allegheny Group of the Sierra Club and ADP. Read more...

Drilling Continues! We Need You For Forest Watch Action! It's spring! In the Allegheny National Forest this means oil and gas drillers will continue drilling thousands more oil and gas wells, and cut hundreds of miles of new roads into an already heavily fragmented forest. We need your help! Because of a very bad decision last December in the Federal District Court of Western Pennsylvania, this destruction is moving forward without environmental analysis or public input. Read more...

Join Our Forest Watch Team The Allegheny Defense Project is pleased to announce its newest campaign, Allegheny Forest and River Watch. We’d like to make our Forest Watch efforts more accessible to our members – more accurately, we need your help with our work. In this project, we will train supporters (you!) in our forest watch techniques. Read more...

Federal Court: Allegheny Defense Project Will Still Appeal Disappointing Decision Tuesday, March 9, 10 AM, Bill Belitskus, Megan Rulli, our attorney Marianne Dugan, and I headed to Courtroom C in the Erie Federal Courthouse for oral arguments on the US Forest Service's motion for reconsideration of Federal Judge Sean McLaughlin's disappointing December 2009 decision. Read more...

Snappy The Hellbender Says, "Come To The Forest. Get Active With ADP!" These days, you’d be hard pressed to find a groundhog in denial of the imminent arrival of spring. And if you and I are at all similar, it’s becoming easier and easier to imagine yourself stepping into a welcoming, green forest. Read more...

Gas Well Drilling And Water Quality On Saturday February 27, 2010, Jim Clark, Penn State Cooperative Extension Officer Educator for McKean County, presented "Gas Well Drilling and Water Quality.” in the Hamlin Township Office Building, Hazel Hurst, McKean County. Read more...

And We're Back This is a criticaIt has been an incredible few years on the Allegheny. We have been operating in high gear, putting our resources into litigation, press releases, file reviews, public comment, and continued on-the-ground monitoring. Read more...

Now Or Never This is a critical time for Pennsylvania. The Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania State Forests, and communities in general are under siege by oil and gas drilling. The deep well drilling for Marcellus Shale gas across Pennsylvania is the greatest land-use threat to the surface waters and aquifers of our commonwealth. Read more...

Allegheny Defense Project's 16th Annual Fall Gathering - September 18th-20th, 2009 The Allegheny Defense Project is holding its 16th Annual Fall Gathering in the Tracy Ridge National Recreation Area, an area that oil and gas companies have targeted for massive oil and gas development. Please join us to learn about issues facing the Allegheny and to enjoy a weekend of camping, hiking, music, food and fun. Read more...

Forest Service Cancels Willow Creek ATV Trail Expansion - July 17, 2009 The Forest Service has canceled its plans to expand the Willow Creek ATV Trail. The ATV trail expansion would have impacted timber rattlesnake habitat and impacted the nearby Chestnut Ridge Wilderness Study Area. Read more...

Conservation Groups Intervene in Oil and Gas Drilling Lawsuit on Allegheny National Forest - July 2, 2009 The Sierra Club and Allegheny Defense Project intervened in a lawsuit filed against the Forest Service by Catalyst Energy of Cranberry Township, PA. Catalyst Energy is challenging the Forest Service's authority to regulate oil and gas drilling on the Allegheny National Forest. The Sierra Club and ADP intervened on the side of the Forest Service to defend its authority to protect Pennsylvania's only national forest. Read more...

ADP Praises New Legislation to Protect Drinking Water from Oil and Gas Contamination - June 9, 2009 The Allegheny Defense Project joined a coalition of environmental organizations around the country in praising legislation introduced in Congress today to protect drinking water from oil and gas contamination. Click here to read the Senate version, introduced by Senator Casey. Click here to read the meeting minutes of the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board in which the DEP disclosed that some oil and gas companies were using short cuts to save money but potentially cause pollution problems. Read more...

Forest Service Public Meetings Not Reaching a Broad Cross-section of Public - May 28, 2009 The U.S. Forest Service is not reaching out to a broad cross-section of people that use the Allegheny National Forest regarding public meetings scheduled to discuss oil and gas drilling issues. Click here to read ADP's letter to Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell. Read more...

Federal Judge Upholds Settelment Agreement Between Forest Service, Environmental Groups - May 12, 2009 A federal judge today decided in favor of environmental groups who argue that the public should have a chance to weign in on oil and gas drilling in the Allegheny National Forest. U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin upheld a settlement agreement between the U.S. Forest Service and three environmental groups - Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, Allegheny Defense Project and the Sierra Club. Click here to read the judge's order and opinion.Read more...