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Monday, November 9, 2009
Heading off Texas-size pollution woes from Pa. drilling
A 175-foot tall natural gas drilling rig in Lycoming County.

The bonanza that state officials expect from drilling natural gas out of the Marcellus Shale region may come with more costs than expected.

This comes as Pennsylvanians still try to fathom Gov. Rendell's retreat from his decision to do what every other state does with shale gas - tax it.

Getting gas from shale involves a process called "fracturing" that uses highly pressurized and chemically treated water. Some environmentalists believe fracturing leaves local streams polluted.

Now comes reports out of the Barnett Shale region in Texas that this industry also might be the source of toxic air pollution. That's after the town of Dish, Texas, paid for its own air quality study because so many residents complained about bad odors.

Dish, population 350, was known as Clark until four years ago when the town changed its name in exchange for 10 years of free satellite service for every home from the Dish company. OK, maybe the people of Dish can be bought. But their good health is too high a price.

So, in September they paid a private company to test the air around the town, which is located near several compressor facilities that process shale gas and pressurize it for pipeline shipment. Wolf Eagle Environmental Engineers found high levels of 15 chemicals, including xylene, naphthalene, and benzene, a carcinogen, as well as sulfides and other neurotoxins.

The companies mining the shale gas near Dish deny they are the source of any air pollution, but the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has decided to do its own study. Results may not come until the end of the year.

Pointing to the Dish study and others, the Natural Resources Defense Council has asked Congress to tighten gaps in the federal Clean Air Act to address emissions from fossil-fuel exploration and production activities.

In the meantime, Pennsylvanians living near the Marcellus Shale must count on the state Department of Environmental Protection to ensure their safety.

DEP officials contend that recent budget cuts won't hamper their monitoring of natural gas extraction and related activities. Maybe not. But the agency probably could have enhanced that work with revenue that Rendell and lawmakers decided the state doesn't need right now.

The governor's rationale was that he didn't want to hurt a fledgling industry that has been set back by the recession. The pace of mining activity in the Marcellus region, however, suggests that it's doing just fine - and it's going to do even better.

Taxing shale gas in Pennsylvania shouldn't be delayed too long. That's another lesson from Texas.

Posted by Inquirer Editorial Board @ 1:00 AM  Permalink | 1 comment
Comments   
Posted 10:05 AM, 11/09/2009
william risko
It's nice to see that Pennsylvania has the best politicians that money can buy, including Gov. Rendell. Instead of taxing the gas drillers as other states are, Rendell has decided to pass those additional required revenues on to the taxpayer. Of course he had lots of help from our legislators who receive millions of dollars from lobbyists who will use this money to keep their sorry butts in office. What we need is somebody in the state government to look out for us taxpayers. Wait a minute -- isn't this why we sent these clowns to Harrisburg? William Risko
1 comments
About The Inquirer Editorial Board
Harold Jackson, a winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, grew up in Birmingham, Ala., during the civil rights movement. He graduated from Baker University in Baldwin, Kan., in 1975, with a degree in journalism/political science. He has also worked at the Birmingham Post-Herald, United Press International, the Birmingham News, and the Baltimore Sun. He was at The Inquirer in the mid-1980s, returned in 1999, and became editorial page editor in 2007.

Paul Davies is the deputy editor of the Editorial Page. His newspaper career has spanned more than 20 years and includes stints at The Wall Street Journal and the Philadelphia Daily News. He graduated from the University of Delaware and received a masters in journalism from Columbia University, where he was also a Knight-Bagehot Fellow. He was born in Philadelphia and still lives in the city.

Tony Auth began drawing while bedridden for a year and a half at the age of five. He graduated from UCLA in 1965 and worked for six years as a medical illustrator while doing three cartoons a week for various college newspapers. Tony has been happily ensconced as The Inquirer’s editorial cartoonist since 1971. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976, and has won numerous other awards, including five Overseas Press Club Awards, the Sigma Delta Chi award for distinguished service in Journalism, and the Herblock and Thomas Nast Prizes. Tony is married to Eliza Drake Auth, a painter of realistic landscapes and portraits.

Trudy Rubin is the foreign affairs columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and a member of The Inquirer’s editorial board. Her column appears twice weekly in The Inquirer and runs regularly in many other newspapers around the United States. She is the author of Willful Blindness: The Bush Administration and Iraq.

Kevin Ferris is an assistant editor on the Editorial Board who oversees the Sunday Currents section and writes a weekly column on a wide range of issues. In his 15 years on the board, he’s handled letters to the editor and the Community Voices pages and has been Commentary Page editor. He started with The Inquirer in 1986, and his assignments have ranged from the copy and news desks to the Chester County bureau and the national/foreign desk.

As an editorial writer for The Inquirer for the past two decades, Russell Cooke has written on a wide range of topics covering government, legal, civic and social issues. Before joining the Editorial Board, he was a reporter in the Inquirer’s City Hall bureau.

Editorial writer Dave Boyer joined The Inquirer in 2002. He writes about politics, government, the economy, sports and many other subjects, but draws the line at writing about "Jon & Kate Plus Eight." He has won journalism awards and insists bribery was not involved. A native of Allentown, Boyer graduated from Penn State. He and his wife reside in Center City, where they enjoy strolling and paying the wage tax.

Melanie Burney joined the editorial board in January 2008 after covering education at the Inquirer for eight years. She previously worked at the Associated Press in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. She is a graduate of Glassboro State College, now Rowan University, and a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Josh Gohlke has been The Inquirer’s op-ed editor since last year, editing the daily commentary page and writing occasional editorials. He came to the Inquirer after eight years at The Record of Bergen County, N.J., first as a reporter covering local and state politics and government and ultimately as the deputy editorial page editor. He also worked as a reporter for several smaller papers in New Jersey and California. Josh was born and raised in Los Angeles and graduated from Stanford University. He lives in Philadelphia.

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