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May 7, 2002 For Immediate Release
Click Here to learn more or to take action! Conservation Groups Petition Pennsylvania DCNR to Release Documents About Secretive Meetings with Oil and Gas Industry Conservationists Question Secretary Oliver's Financial Connections to Oil Industry Harrisburg, PA - Today, a coalition of conservation organizations petitioned Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) to release documents detailing eighteen months of secretive meetings held between the DCNR and oil and gas industry representatives. The year and a half of meetings resulted in plans to open 500,000 acres of state forest and park lands to deep drilling by private industry interests. The state's plans were disclosed last month by the Clarion, PA-based Allegheny Defense Project. Last week the auction was postponed under pressure from conservation groups and Republican, Democratic, and Green Party leaders. The Right to Know request falls on the heels of a recent disclosure by Greenwatch, Pennsylvania Environmental Network, and the Allegheny Defense Project regarding Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary John Oliver's financial holdings in the oil and gas industry. Greenwatch obtained records that show that Secretary Oliver receives royalty payments from three oil and gas companies who operate wells on his land. Two of those companies, Great Lakes Energy Partners and Vista Resources, are actively drilling into the very same gas formation that the agency plans for leasing on Pennsylvania's state parks and forests. In addition, Oliver owns significant stock in the oil and gas industry including $182,306 in Exxon Mobil Corporation, $35,875 in FPL Group, $306,803 in General Electric, and $24,225 in Royal Dutch Petroleum. FPL Group is an energy generation outfit that is currently constructing a natural gas fired power plant in Delaware County. General Electric recently entered into a partnership with FPL Group whereby General Electric is providing gas turbines for FPL GroupÕs generation facilities. Conservationists charge that the state met with oil and gas industry representatives for a year and a half about opening state forests and parks to drilling but never informed the public or conservation groups about their plans, much less solicited their input. Conservationists are concerned by a potential conflict of interest involving John Oliver who made the decision to pursue these oil and gas leases. Conservationists are asking that John Oliver immediately release the names of the companies he met with and recuse himself from any role in the leasing of oil and gas rights in Pennsylvania's state parks and forests. John Oliver, Secretary for the DCNR, has admitted that they had made an error in failing to include the public but denies any wrongdoing. "Even though we followed our standard procedure with this lease, we should have made our plans known well in advance," said Secretary Oliver, in his Department's press release. The request was filed by the Allegheny Defense Project (Clarion, PA), Pennsylvania Environmental Network (Fombell, PA), Greenwatch (Jersey Shore, PA), Pennsylvania League of Conservation Voters (Harrisburg, PA), Communities for Sustainable Forestry (Kane, PA), and Heartwood (Bloomington, IN). To download a copy of the Right to Know request, Secretary Oliver's Financial Disclosure Statements, or for more information on Pennsylvania's plans to open state parks and forests to oil and gas drilling visit the Allegheny Defense Project's website at http://www.alleghenydefense.org
Quotes from Requesting Organizations "The public has a right to know how public policy is being developed, particularly when it involves the management of PennsylvaniaÕs public lands which, as stated in the state's Constitution, are the common property of all of Pennsylvania's citizens," explained Bill Smedley, Executive Director for Greenwatch. "Secretary Oliver should be ashamed for trying to auction off our public forests for oil and gas drilling without mentioning that he owns stock in the oil and gas industry." "Our state parks and forests are at the heart of Pennsylvania's tourism industry," said Brian Laverty, President of the Pennsylvania Environmental Network. "If this drilling goes on as planned, some of our most treasured parks will be impacted by the sight and noise of giant drilling rigs." "Because the state of Pennsylvania has operated under a shroud of secrecy in the past does not justify a continuation of that policy," said Bill Belitskus with Communities for Sustainable Forestry based in Kane, PA. "Secretary Oliver asked us to trust him on this one, but how can we trust Secretary Oliver when he negotiated Pennsylvania's natural heritage away without disclosing his own financial connections to the oil and gas industry." "Secretary Oliver has gone too far in allowing private oil and gas industry representatives to decide how we should manage our state forest and park lands," said Jim Kleissler, Forest Watch Director for ADP. "The state is planning to hold public meetings this fall about new management plans for our state forests, but by then it will be too late to consider alternative management options for areas that are auctioned off to the oil industry." "The fact that this process is necessary demonstrates that big oil companies (some of whom are corporate citizens of other states or countries) have more access to government leaders than the citizens of Pennsylvania do. Further, they seem to be accorded more protections," said Phil Coleman, Executive Director for Pennsylvania's League of Conservation Voters. "Research demonstrates that the northern forests in Pennsylvania are vital to the recovery of disappearing forest ecosystems," explained Jim Bensman, Forest Watch Coordinator with Heartwood. "These records may hold the key to explain why Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources refuses to prepare an environmental analysis on this proposal. In refusing previous requests for this information, Secretary Oliver has given the impression that he is hiding something." ## |
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