Pennsylvania Wilds or Oil and Gas Fields?
Tell DCNR to protect State Forests from Oil and Gas Drilling!

In 2002, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) proposed auctioning 500,000 acres of state forest and park land to oil and gas companies for deep gas well drilling. The Allegheny Defense Project joined other conservation groups in publicly condemning such a proposal – particularly since the DCNR announced that proposal with no environmental analysis or public input. Eventually, due largely to public outcry, the DCNR scaled back the proposed auction area and eventually auctioned 18,000 acres for deep gas well drilling, a 97% reduction from its original proposal.

In 2003, with the public outcry over the previous year’s auction fresh in its mind, the DCNR imposed a moratorium on leasing state forest and park lands for shallow oil and gas drilling. This complimented Governor Rendell’s “Pennsylvania Wilds Initiative,” which was unveiled the same year. Pennsylvania Wilds seeks to “enhance the visitor experiences in this region, while protecting and conserving these treasured natural resources.” It goes without saying that if you want to enhance the visitor experience in the Pennsylvania Wilds region, which is dominated by state forest and park lands, leasing those lands for oil and gas drilling conflicts with that goal. So the DCNR made the right decision four years ago when it imposed the moratorium on shallow oil and gas leasing.

Four years later, however, oil and gas prices have increased dramatically and the DCNR is proposing to lift the moratorium. According to the DCNR’s own documents, its decision to discontinue shallow oil and gas leasing “was met with opposition from both the Legislature and the oil and gas industry.” This statement makes it abundantly clear that the DCNR is being pressured by the oil and gas industry and members of the Pennsylvania Legislature to ignore the will of the public and open our state lands to leasing for shallow oil and gas drilling.

Oil and gas drilling has exploded across Pennsylvania over the last five years. In the Allegheny National Forest, for example, oil and gas drilling has increased 1,000 percent since 2003. The result is extensive forest fragmentation impacting water quality, wildlife habitat, and public recreation opportunities. Unlike the Allegheny National Forest, the state owns most of the mineral rights underlying state lands. It is unconscionable for the DCNR to consider leasing these precious public lands so that oil and gas companies can exploit them because energy prices are higher than they were in 2003.

Leasing state forest and park lands for oil and gas drilling will undoubtedly impact the state’s ability to promote and implement the Pennsylvania Wilds Initiative. If Governor Rendell wants increased recreation and tourism in the state’s northern tier, we need to protect and conserve these natural resources, not hand them over to the oil and gas industry to build roads, pipelines, and well sites that fragment the very nature of what Pennsylvania Wilds is trying to promote.

Please contact the DCNR and tell them to keep the moratorium on shallow oil and gas leasing in place. The DCNR is accepting comments until October 31, 2007. You can use the DCNR’s online comment form to submit comments:

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/sfrmp/comments.aspx

Also, you may want to send your comments to Governor Rendell and tell him that the plan to open state forest and park lands to oil and gas drilling directly conflicts with his own Pennsylvania Wilds Initiative:

Governor Edward G. Rendell
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/Governor/govmail.html

Finally, if you can, please plan on attending one of the public meetings the DCNR is holding regarding this and other changes to the state forest resource management plan. Here is a list of the public meetings dates and locations. All meetings begin at 7 pm.

- Sept. 18, Renovo Elementary School, Renovo;

- Sept. 19, Brady Township Community Center, Luthersburg (near Dubois);

- Sept. 20, Potato City Inn, Coudersport;

- Sept. 25, Antiochian Village, Ligonier;

- Sept. 27, The Inn at Reading, French Creek;

- Oct. 1, Genetti Hotel, Williamsport;

- Oct. 2, Holiday Inn/Dunmore, Scranton; and

- Oct. 4, Hotel Carlisle and Embers Convention Center, Carlisle.

***SAMPLE LETTER***

Dear Secretary Diberardinis:

I oppose any plans the DCNR has for making state forest and park lands available for leasing for oil and gas drilling. Pennsylvania’s state forests and parks are simply too precious to allow oil and gas companies to exploit these public treasures for private profit. The DCNR made the right decision to discontinue leasing state forest and park lands for oil and gas drilling in 2003 and it should not reverse its course simply because the oil and gas industry and certain members of the PA Legislature want to take advantage of high oil and gas prices. If anything, the high oil and gas prices make it obvious that the current moratorium should remain in place to avoid any potential for exploitation of Pennsylvania’s public forest lands.

Oil and gas drilling is at record levels throughout much of western Pennsylvania. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been forced to hire several new employees to keep up with how many applications are being submitted for drilling permits. The Forest Service has publicly admitted that it cannot keep up with the level of drilling that is currently taking place on the Allegheny National Forest. It is foolish for the DCNR to invite this blight onto Pennsylvania’s state forest and park lands.

Making these lands available for leasing for shallow oil and gas drilling counters the goals of the Pennsylvania Wilds Initiative. Increased fragmentation from roads, pipelines, well sites, storage tanks, and other infrastructure will undoubtedly impact the “Wild” experience that is being promoted through Pennsylvania Wilds. Recreationists do not want to come out to the wilds of Pennsylvania to see a maze of oil and gas roads and well sites. Existing oil and gas drilling in and surrounding Sproul State Forest is an example of what Pennsylvanians can expect if DCNR follows through with this ill-conceived proposal.

Making these lands available for leasing for shallow oil and gas drilling will increase fragmentation of wildlife habitat. In a state that is rapidly losing open space to development, DCNR should do everything to aggressively protect our state forests and parks for wildlife habitat. Several Important Bird Areas (IBA’s) are identified by Pennsylvania Audubon in our state forests. DCNR must protect these areas instead of opening them to more fragmentation from road construction and oil and gas development.

The DCNR needs only to look at the Allegheny National Forest to see the drastic effects of oil and gas drilling. Aerial photos on the Allegheny Defense Project website make clear the extensive fragmentation caused by road construction for oil and gas drilling. While the DCNR claims that it will exert more control over development on state lands, there is simply no need to risk our state lands in the first place. The amount of oil and gas that is economically recoverable pales in comparison with our nation’s consumption. Pennsylvania should be focused on real energy alternatives rather than opening some of our state’s most wild areas to drilling just because oil and gas companies want to take advantage of record high energy prices.

Do not lift the moratorium on leasing state forest and park lands for shallow oil and gas drilling.

Sincerely,

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