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Allegheny National Forest seeks public input on oil and gas |
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Written by Publisher
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Thursday, 05 March 2009 |
Photo by Heidi Zemach
Allegheny Defense Project members gather petitions at Rimrock Scenic Overlook last summer against PAPCO oil drilling wells in that scenic area.
By Heidi Zemach
Special to The Kane Republican
Should the national forest service be able to regulate the oil and gas industry more, or less, for environmental impacts within the Allegheny National Forest?
The U.S. Forest Service has scheduled two public meetings in the area to discuss its pending Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (E.I.S.) for Reserved and Outstanding Oil and Gas Design Criteria, for the 2007 Allegheny National Forest Plan: The first meeting will take place on Monday, March 9, at 7 p.m. at the Forest Supervisor’s office at 4 Farm Colony Drive, on U.S. 62 north of Warren. The second meeting is on Wednesday, March 11, at 7 p.m. at the Clarion Holiday Inn, at the junction of State Route 68 and Interstate 80 (exit 62).
Forest Service officials in Washington D.C. have directed the ANF to redo the portions of the forest plan directed at private oil and gas operations, and has ruled that the ANF management should have solicited public comment on the provisions before finalizing them. ANF officials also were directed to evaluate the effects of the oil and gas industry on air quality in the 513,000-acre national forest.
The process began with a notice in the Federal Register, announcing that the Forest Service would prepare a supplemental EIS for the plan. The EIS would “better describe the ANF’s legal authority to determine the reasonable use of surface resources when private oil and gas rights are exercised, and incorporate clear language that defines the roles and responsibilities of the FS, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and private mineral owners.” It also would “evaluate and disclose the potential cumulative effects on regional air quality from emissions of methane, hydrogen sulfide and emissions from vehicles and equipment used in oil and gas development in the ANF,” according to the notice.
The Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association, (POGAM), an association of independent oil drillers and producers, fears that the personal liberty and property rights of the owners of the mineral rights beneath the national forest are threatened by this newly mandated undertaking.
On the organization's Web site and newsletter, POGAM encouraged those in the oil and gas industry to comment in favor of maintaining the provisions of the (former) 1986 forest plan, and tell ANF officials that the existing relationship between the industry and agency has worked well for years and that there is no need for new regulations that would place additional economic burdens on small oil and gas operators.
POGAM stated that the forest service’s new direction is designed to give itself authority it does not possess, in creating a regulatory regime that neither the U.S. Congress, nor the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has ever given it.
In a lawsuit, a federal court was asked by oil and gas industry advocates to vacate the final approval of the ANF forest plan, and revert to the provisions of the previous plan. It contends that the private mineral owners and federal government are co-owners of the ANF, and that the FS has no legal authority to place “unreasonable conditions” on access to the forest’s subsurface resources, 90 percent of which are privately owned.
Conservation and recreation groups claim that not only does the Forest Service have the authority to regulate oil and gas development, but that the agency has not been doing enough to protect the surface and water resources of the ANF.
The Allegheny Defense Project has also filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service to that effect. It is welcoming the opportunity to comment again on the forest plan and supplemental EIS stating in its Web site, “After years of telling the public that it could do little to regulate private oil and gas drilling on the Allegheny National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service has finally acknowledged they can, and in fact, need to assume oversight on how oil and gas drilling is managed.”
More than 12,000 oil and gas wells have been drilled on the forest without federal analysis of the environmental impacts that those wells and associated roads have on wildlife habitat, watersheds and recreation opportunities, according to ADP, a federal requirement for comparable projects in national forests outside of Pennsylvania. ADP is asking its supporters to tell the Forest Service to implement strong regulations to protect the forest’s surface, air and water resources from the impacts of oil and gas drilling, and to implement a long-term restoration strategy to undo the damage that has already occurred.
The ANF’s public scoping period for verbal and written comments for the EIS, lasts through March 30. The FS will review those scoping comments and issues raised, and release preliminary alternatives in late April. It will release a revised preliminary alternative in late May. It will publish a draft EIS for another 90-day comment period in July, and will hold more public meetings then. The entire process will continue through December, 2009.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 30 July 2009 )
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