Gas drillers are way ahead of protections Ron Bartizek Business LOCAL

Gas drillers are way ahead of protections Ron Bartizek Business LOCAL
Sunday May 16, 2010 01:00 AM
Ron Bartizek rbartizek@timesleader.com
Not since the days of King Coal has the economic health of Northeastern Pennsylvania – and perhaps the entire state – been so tied to one industry as it soon will be to natural gas drilling. Billions already have been spent in just the few years since new approaches made extracting gas from the Marcellus Shale formation deep underground a profitable endeavor, even at relatively low prices.
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On the losing side, wildlife, forests and neighbors to storage and transportation facilities are clearly in the line of fire. Less obvious are people who own property above a horizontal well but don’t know it, thus missing the chance to grab their share of the royalties.
The biggest potential loser is all of us, if state and local governments don’t take strong measures to protect our land and water supplies. That will take money — big money — that can come only from a properly directed severance tax on production. The industry cries loudly that a tax will discourage development, but those are crocodile tears. They pay for the privilege of extracting natural resources in every other important energy state, and they ought to be required to do so here..MORE