State parks under fire -- again

We're not surprised, but Pennsylvania’s precious public lands are under serious threat once again. For the first time, state park lands could be leased for gas drilling, breaking a long-standing policy of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). Governor Tom Corbett's bad-news dump on the Friday afternoon before Memorial Day weekend was likely intended to attract as little attention as possible. But Pennsylvanians care deeply about our parks and aren't distracted that easily.

The Governor's lifting of a 2010 executive order to prohibit further leasing of public lands puts our state parks -- a jewel of the Commonwealth -- at dire risk, and opens our state forests to additional gas drilling. Until now, state parks have been spared since drilling companies know the value and attachment Pennsylvanians have for our state parks.

Our 120 state parks attract over 38 million visitors per year and generate over $1.1 billion in economic activity. Whether you're hiking along one of the 24 named waterfalls at Ricketts Glen State Park, camping at Ohiopyle State Park, or picknicking at Laurel Ridge, our state park system is one of the highlights of Pennsylvania's outdoors and a huge contributor to our state's economy.

DCNR’s own report acknowledges that there are already impacts to forests, wildlife, and the public’s right to enjoyment of public lands. These will only increase. Forest fragmentation, which is destructive to biodiversity, will increase; threats to water and native plants and animals will increase; and air pollution from well infrastructure and truck traffic will rise. 

This is an urgent threat, as the General Assembly works to pass a budget by June 30. Please tell your state legislators to block further leasing and to oppose any budget or Fiscal Code bill that contains revenue from new leasing of state parks and state forests. If you subscribe to our e-alerts, you'll be receiving details this week on how to contact your legislator.

Kate Gibbons is PennFuture's northeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator and is based in Wilkes-Barre. 

Gas development and forest fragmentation being studied

In our last post, we suggested that you take note of a study being conducted by the National Energy Technology Laboratory on the migration of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. The preliminary results indicate that frack fluids in one of eight shale gas wells being monitored did not migrate near shallow groundwater aquifers used by Pennsylvanians for drinking water. This week, we note that there is another important study under way relating to a different kind of migration.

Lillie Langlois, a Ph.D. candidate in wildlife and fisheries science at my alma mater, Penn State, is studying the impact of shale gas development on our state forests and wildlife, including migratory neotropical birds.

Forest covers more than 60 percent of Pennsylvania - nearly 17 million acres. A ton of wildlife depends on these vast non-fragmented forests for breeding, including migratory neotropical birds that travel from Central and South America to breed in Pennsylvania, such as the Indigo Bunting.

As of 2012, the state Deptartment of Environmental Protection (DEP) has issued more than 8,000 shale gas permits across the state, with more than 6,000 wells having been drilled. The majority of wells being drilled in northern tier counties center on Tioga and Bradford counties, which are also home to some of the largest unbroken blocks of trees in Pennsylvania. Each well constitutes five acres or more of a stone pad with associated roads and pipelines that result in forest fragmentation, which has varying impacts on wildlife.

As private land becomes more intensely developed, our public lands - State Forests and Game Lands - become that much more important for Pennsylvania in order to maintain its wildlife heritage. Not only that, it is increasingly apparent that migratory birds play a critical role in both local and global economies as pollinators, health wardens, restorers, fertilizers and sport and tourist attractions.

Pennsylvania has no state equivalent of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that required the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) to take a thorough and comprehensive look, in a public way, at the environmental consequences of opening up our public lands to gas development.

As with the chemical migration study, this is once again the type of research needed to inform public policy decisions about the impacts and risks of shale gas development in Pennsylvania.