Politics & Government

Selective Drilling Ban Exposes Hypocrisy in PA Energy Policy

State Rep. Jesse White talks about the 'Bucks Backroom Deal' that bans natural gas drilling in the eastern part of the state but retains it in the western part.

In the waning hours of the 2012 state budget process, a few paragraphs were slipped into SB 1263, also known as the state fiscal code. This language provided for a ban on natural gas drilling in the South Newark Basin, which includes portions of Bucks and Montgomery counties in southeastern Pennsylvania.

On a day the state legislature approved dozens of bills, passed a $27 billion spending plan and authorized billions of dollars in tax credits for the petrochemical industry, the ban (also known as the “Bucks Backroom Deal”) may actually have the greatest impact on the state’s energy policy.

In February, , which eliminated local zoning for natural gas operations, which include drilling, compressor stations and pipelines. Passed with support of Republican lawmakers from the Southeast, Act 13 was hailed by the governor, lawmakers and the natural gas industry as crucial because it provided uniformity and consistency for developing shale gas drilling policy.

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When questioned back home, many lawmakers from areas like Bucks and Montgomery counties began taking heat for their vote, so they started telling the public they either didn’t know what was in the bill or didn’t think it would apply to their county, even though many lawmakers like me, representing heavy drilling areas, tried desperately to warn them about how bad Act 13 was going to be if enacted.

The problem escalated from mild political headache to major political agita when a report surfaced in late June indicating there was a huge natural gas deposit underneath the South Newark Basin, which includes Bucks and Montgomery counties. The lawmakers had laid an egg with a bad vote on Act 13, and that egg was now a full-grown chicken coming home to roost.

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But instead of confronting the mess their votes created for the entire state, these lawmakers, led by Sen. Chuck McIlhenney and enabled by the Corbett administration, basically stole the last life boat and left the women and children to fend for themselves on the sinking ship that is life under Act 13. Maybe if he and his colleagues had done their jobs and read the damn bill before they voted on it, we wouldn't be in this situation.

The underlying theme is impossible to ignore. Despite all the rhetoric about Pennsylvania’s commitment to responsible development of clean-burning natural gas in a consistent and uniform way, our energy policy is nothing more than dirty, hypocritical politics.

After spending $1.3 million in lobbying to get Act 13 passed, not a single energy industry lobbyist or executive would say a word about the selective drilling moratorium, which strikes at the very heart of their ‘uniformity and consistency’ argument. If they hadn’t been in on the deal, they would have gone ballistic.

The lack of opposition from groups like The Pennsylvania Association of Township Supervisors, which inexplicably sold out its member municipalities in an apparent deal to get Act 13 passed, was also very telling. No one was saying anything, which is unheard of in the State Capitol. Anyone looking at the signs could see the political fix was in to repay a few select lawmakers for their votes on Act 13 back in February.

The Corbett administration, which in theory should have vehemently opposed the moratorium, was oddly silent. Questions were immediately raised on the House floor, noting that Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley lives in Bucks County and DEP Secretary Michael Krancer lives in Montgomery County. If Act 13 isn’t good enough for two of the most blatantly pro-drilling members of the Corbett administration, why should the rest of us have to live under it?

Some of my colleagues defended the ban as a necessary move to study the South Newark Basin until at least 2018 so they can assess the impacts and ‘get it right’. There were no such studies in other parts of the state like my legislative district in Washington, Allegheny and Beaver counties. Not only were we were told by the administration and the gas industry they were doing everything right, but many of us were vehemently attacked for even suggesting otherwise, regardless of the evidence accumulating before our very eyes.

By signing SB 1263 and endorsing the rationale that a moratorium on drilling is necessary anywhere, Governor Corbett clearly acknowledged Act 13 is insufficient to allow a community to develop shale gas responsibly and exposed a level of hypocrisywhich many of us in the drilling areas struggle with on a daily basis.

Do not read this as an endorsement of a statewide moratorium on drilling, because it isn’t. I am not a ‘fractivist’—I’m charged with representing 62,000 people who have had their communities divided and conquered by a small segment of bad actors who use propaganda and strong-arm tactics to drill as much as possible as quickly as possible, with little regard for the people who were here before them or may be left after they leave.

By sticking their heads in the shale and pretending not to notice, Pennsylvania’s political leadership has given implicit, if not explicit, approval of this dangerous and short-sighted strategy. I’m sure the millions in campaign contributions have nothing to do with it.

Whether you are pro-drilling or anti-drilling, SB 1263 is terrible policy. With this clearly unconstitutional provision created for political convenience, we opened up a political powder keg in every county, where drilling opponents will no doubt demand moratoriums of their own. SB 1263 will also have a negative impact on the energy industry because it creates uncertainty in the marketplace.

The “Bucks Backroom Deal” has serious long-term implications for anyone impacted by Act 13. The need to repeal and replace Act 13 with a realistic, common sense approach to natural gas drilling is clear; until then, those of us not in Bucks or Montgomery counties are literally second-class citizens.

More than anything, this is about fairness for all Pennsylvanians. If Act 13 isn't good enough for some of us, then it isn't good enough for any of us.


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