On the Bus?
RDA - Responsible Drilling Alliance
On the Bus?
We Need Protection from Marcellus Shale Drilling! RALLY and LOBBY DAY--Come to Harrisburg on Tuesday, June 7.
Contaminated drinking water, pollution in our rivers, hazardous air pollution, safety problems, and destruction of our state forests are just some of the problems.
Join us in Harrisburg and SPEAK OUT! Let our Legislators know that we need them to take action NOW!
If you would like to meet with your State Legislators, register at www.pacleanwatercampaign.org or call: Steve at 412-765-3053, x210
8am-10:30am: Check-in and Briefing
We will meet in the East Wing of the Capitol outside the cafeteria. Tables will be set up with information packets for participants. You must pre-register by Tuesday, May 31st, to have the best chance of securing a meeting! Legislators set their schedules well in advance. If you register later than Tuesday, May 31st, there is no guarantee that we will be able to secure a meeting for you. Meetings will be set from 9:00am-12:00pm and 1:00pm-4:00pm.
**If you are riding the RDA bus and plan to meet with Legislators, please schedule your meeting time between 10:00AM-2:30PM.
Neighbors will join together on the RDA bus to Harrisburg.
Please contact Carmalene Churba at 610-389 3220 or e-mail carm...@responsibledrillingalliance.org for a seat on the Williamsport/Lewisburg bus.
Price: $10
The Bus from Williamsport, arranged by RDA, will make a stop in Lewisburg. Tickets are sold at cost, not for profit. Clean Water Action has kindly donated half the price of the bus. Bus fee is subject to change, depending on how many people sign-up, but price will not exceed $15.00 dollars. **No refund for this event
7:45AM Depart Williamsport
8:30AM Arrive Lewisburg
9:55AM Arrive State Capitol Harrisburg
3:00PM Depart Harrisburg
RSVP by Friday May 27. Indicate if you have made reservations to meet with Legislators and what time you are scheduled (if you know by the 27th), or if you are only attending the rally at 12 noon. Please contact Carmalene Churba at 610-389 3220 or e-mail carm...@responsibledrillingalliance.org for reservations.
You will be sent a receipt which will provide your confirmation, bus time, and the bus location you have selected. There will be a contact number for a Bus Captain for this bus. Please arrive 15 minutes before departure. Bring water, snacks, and lunch. There is a cafeteria in the Capitol, however it may be crowded. Dress appropriately for the weather on that day.
You Are Invited: "Picnics, Not Pipelines"
Please join business owners, as well as year-round and seasonal residents, in kicking off the summer tourist season in Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains with a picnic -- and a plea to local, state, and federal officials to preserve the region’s way of life in the face of a proposed gas pipeline project.
For generations, visitors have flocked to the Endless Mountains in Northeast Pennsylvania to enjoy the region’s river gateways, rolling hills, family farms, river towns, historic districts, and quaint rural villages - helping to feed the state’s $26-billion-a-year tourism industry.
But the Central New York Oil and Gas Company wants to install an industrial gas pipeline that would slice through the region, tear up almost 600 acres of land in Bradford, Sullivan, and Lycoming counties, and replace wooded mountains and pastoral landscapes with 39 miles of pipeline, additional miles of lateral gathering lines, access roads, massive compressor units, filter separators, gas coolers, and other industrial machinery.
If the pipeline project goes through as planned, it could mean the end of summer as we've known it in the Endless Mountains. A map showing the proposed pipeline route is available here:
http://earthjustice.org/documents/map/pdf/map-of-proposed-marc-i-line
WHEN: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 11 a.m. to noon (Rain or shine)
WHERE: Laporte Park, Laporte, Sullivan County, PA, Main Street ( SR 42) between Court and Muncy Streets, across from the Sullivan County Courthouse.
Thanks to RDA members--“Big Mike” Stasiunas and family of the Forksville General Store, and Charles and Barbara Gerlach of Blueberry Fields Organic Farm and Bed & Breakfast--for providing food for all. Members of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, Coalition for Responsible Growth & Resource Conservation, RDA, Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, Sierra Club (Pennsylvania Chapter), and event organizer Earth Justice will all be on hand. Please join us in making a large statement of concern for this unique, beautiful region and its people.
Scarnati Gets It Wrong Again
State Senator Joseph “Super Bowl” Scarnati, along with Senator Eugene Yaw, among others, introduced Senate Bill 1100 (SB1100) last week. The bill, “An Act Amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes,” imposes a natural gas impact fee tied to a model zoning ordinance.
Details of the bill were quickly dissected by watchdog groups around the state. Thanks go to all for exposing its evils and inspiring Pennsylvanians to fight the bill. Some "lowlights" from Dick Martin (PA Forest Coalition): “The Municipal ordinances must: (1) make oil and gas development a permitted use by right in all districts except residential districts, (2) make compressor stations a permitted use by right in agricultural, industrial and commercial districts, and a conditional use in other districts, and (3) make natural gas processing plants a permitted use by right in industrial districts and a conditional use or special exception in agricultural districts.”
Dick goes on to say, “Municipalities that enact 'more stringent standards' would be disqualified from receiving Impact Fee dollars. If they don’t swallow that Poison Pill, they repair their bridges, roads and other damage caused by gas drilling on their own. Some of these townships are 100 square miles and have 230 residents. The model ordinance would have a chilling effect. Cash-strapped municipalities would be reluctant to protect public water supplies and valuable natural resources, prohibit drilling in floodplains, prohibiting water withdrawal sites in residential neighborhoods, require setbacks for gathering pipelines or adopt setbacks for wells from features not mentioned in the Oil and Gas Act. The presence of any 'more stringent' standards in a local ordinance could render the municipality ineligible for all impact fee revenue.”
The merits of an impact fee are well worth discussing, but SB1100’s model ordinance provision makes it a non-starter. There are many rural municipalities that lack any zoning and whose residents could benefit from a good model ordinance, but this approach is exactly the opposite of what is needed. A decent model ordinance that serves as a baseline protection for all would be a good place to start, but only if municipalities were allowed to strengthen it, in ways courts have allowed, and not be bribed into not going beyond it.
Please contact your State Senator and members of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee (EREC) to tell them you oppose SB1100 before it slips into law.
EREC Committee Chairperson, Senator Mary Jo White: mwh...@pasen.gov or (814)437-5289
23rd District Senator Eugene Yaw: gy...@pasen.gov (570)322-6457 or (717)772-0575
PUC Ignores Its Own Wise Counsel
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) last week, in a 3-2 vote, ignored the recommendation of Administrative Law Judge Susan Colwell and approved Laser Northeast Gathering's application for a "certificate of public convenience", which would grant it public utility status. That status would give Laser the right to employ eminent domain condemnation powers to build a gathering pipeline project in Susquehanna County, despite the fact that the pipeline would deliver no gas to consumers in the county.
Judge Colwell had argued that Laser didn't meet the definition of a public utility.
Dissenting Commissioner James Cawley wrote of "grave implications for individual Pennsylvanians and their communities" and noted how PUC status would skew easement negotiations in favor of pipeline companies.
Judge Colwell’s decision last year was based on the argument that a collection and gathering pipe system served natural gas well owners and not the "public”. The commission’s majority decided the legal definition of public means the companies requiring the service. Amazing!
What happens next is murky, but it is thought that the ruling will be returned to Judge Cowell for further review, at which time public comment will again be accepted. Many RDA members commented last summer, helping Judge Cowell make her original recommendation. Watch here for future actions to try and stave off yet another huge assault on Pennsylvania’s landscape and the rights of its property owners.
Reminder: Air Quality Comments Due This Week
Protect your family’s air. Visit the RDA newsletter archives at www.ResponsibleDrillingAlliance.org and look up the previous 3 week’s newsletters for details and instructions on how to request the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to set up stricter Air Quality Standards. Response deadline is May 26.