O'Malley Administration and Lawmakers Want Two-Year Study and Safeguards Before Any Hydraulic Fracturing Starts in Maryland

Cancer-causing chemicals.  Heavy truck traffic. Contaminated drinking water. Polluted streams.

These are some of the potential problems that motivated Maryland's Environmental Secretary, a children’s health expert, and several Western Maryland residents and business owners, to join with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other environmental groups today in endorsing proposed state legislation designed to stop the negative impacts of natural gas drilling.

A bill called the “Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Act of 2011”  was inspired by a boom of hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas from a rock formation called the Marcellus shale that lies under Pennsylvania, Western Maryand, New York, West Virginia and other states.

Maryland State Delegate Heather Mizeur of Montgomery County (right) and 21 other lawmakers introduced the bill. It would prohibit the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) from issuing drilling permits until applicants demonstrate that the drilling will not pollute groundwater and surface water, among several other steps.

Maryland's Acting Environmental Secretary, Dr. Robert Summers, said MDE supports House Bill 852, with amendments. One of the amendments requested by MDE and the O'Malley Administration --and supported by the bill's sponsor -- would require a careful study of the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on the state's environment before the state issues any permits.  The study would be conducted between now and July 1, 2013 by MDE and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

“The gas from the Marcellus shale has a lot of potential economically,” Summers told the House Environmental Matters Committee. “However, there are very serious risks… and it is absolutely necessary that we take the right precautions to protect Maryland’s citizens and the environment for today and future generations as well.”

This potential for a two-and-a-half year delay before any hydraulic fracturing in Maryland triggered complaints from opponents of the bill, including lobbyists for Texas-based Chief Oil & Gas.  

"We do not oppose the idea of moving deliberately and cautiously," said Terry Bossert, a vice president of Chief Oil & Gas.  "But you don’t need a two-and-a-half-year study for something that has been going on for 20 years in the southwest, and five years plus in Pennsyvlania.”

His company is one of two firms that applied more than a year ago for permits to start drilling in Maryland's portion of the Marcellus Shale. More than 500 land owners in Western Maryland have signed leases to allow extraction under 124,000 acres, or about a quarter of Garrett County’s land. MDE has not approved any drilling permits to allow hydraulic fracturing to extract the gas.  No gas wells of any kind have been drilled in Maryland in 15 years.

Meanwhile, just north and south of Maryland, in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, thousands of gas wells are being drilled in the same shale formation that lies under Western Maryland. More than 100,000 wells are expected to be drilled in Pennsylvania over the next decade or more, which could fragment the natural landscape, Pennsylvania's former Natural Resources Secretary, John Quigley, has warned.

Dr. Jerome Paulson, Director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Health and the Environment, testified in favor of Delegate Mizeur's bill, arguing that the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process can be harmful to human health.

“Many of the chemicals are carcinogenic or associated with numerous health impacts,” he told the committee.

Kim Coble, Maryland Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, noted that she has been coming before the Environmental Matters Committee for many years to discuss restoring the health of the Chesapeake Bay.  In this case, Maryland has a chance to prevent pollution.  “We have an opportunity to do it right this time,” Coble told the committee. “We have an opportunity to save money, save costs, by ensuring that we don’t make mistakes,” she said.

In addition to requiring steps to protect waterways from pollution, the “Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Act of 2011,” would require that drillers develop plans to avoid or minimize the impacts to forests, wetlands and other natural resources. The bill would also require that hydraulic fracturing fluids only contain materials approved by MDE; that the water used for hydraulic fracturing comes from a public water supply with sufficient reserves; that drilling companies monitor nearby waterways before and after drilling; and that these companies carry insurance adequate to pay for any environmental cleanup.

“Maryland must slow down to avoid the mistakes made by Pennsyvlania in their rush to drill,” state said Del. Mizeur. “Pennsylvania hurried headlong into this drilling, and is now reaping the consequences,” she said.

Maryland State Delegate Marvin Holmes of Prince George's County, a co-sponsor of the bill (pictured at left) said: "We want to make sure our natural resources in the state of Maryland are protected.”

Terry Fisher, a western Maryland resident and former state transportation inspector, said she favors the Mizeur/Holmes bill, in part because it would require local governments to plan for and approve truck traffic routes to drilling sites.

Fisher told the committee that the hydraulic fracturing of each well will require millions of gallons of water, transported by hundreds of tanker trucks. “These roads were never designed for this volume of traffic, or this weight of vehicles," Fisher said.  "Garrett County is ill-prepared right now to manage the truck traffic.”

The Maryland Department of the Environment today released a position paper supporting the Mizeur/Holmes bill that calls for a two-year industry-funded study by MDE and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources into the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing.  Instead of a permit-by-permit approach, the O'Malley administration wants to conduct a comprehensive examination of all the potential impacts on waterways, the landscape, and habitat fragmentation.

"If information becomes available during the course of the study that is sufficient to demonstrate that the extraction of natural gas from shale formations in Maryland can be accomplished without adverse impact to human health, natural resources, or the environment, the Department should be allowed to issue a permit with the appropriate safeguards," the paper from MDE reads.

Also supporting the Mizeur/Holmes bill are Trout Unlimited, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and Leo Martin, the mayor of Mountain Lake Park in Western Maryland.  Among those opposing the bill is the Garrett County Farm Bureau, some of whose members want gas royalties from allowing drilling on their land.

State Del. Maggie McIntosh, chair of the Environmental Matters Committee, told the audience of more than 100 people in the hearing room yesterday that she does not intend to let Maryland make the same mistakes with drilling that neighboring states have made.

"I love Garrett County," McIntosh said.  "I don't want Garrett County to become like some counties I've seen in Pennsylvania" that have been hurt by drilling, she said.

By Tom Pelton

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

(Photo at top of natural gas well flaring in Pennsylvania by Tom Pelton)

Comments

[Vince]

Her we go again. Just as oil prices reach 100 dollars a barrel. The ability to extract natural gas shutdown for 2.5 years because of government regulation. I though Obama was going to make it easier for Business to create jobs. Hundreds of immediate jobs gone...AGAIN.

[Patrick]

The Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Act of 2011 is good news for the state of Maryland and it's citizens. As a resident landowner of Garrett County I do not want to see my property and the County's infrastructure and cleaner environment destroyed. Garrett County's total natural gas reserves are so small as to have no noticeable impact on our national supply. Clean water, air and safe roads for our citizens and visitors are worth so much more. Actually, The oil companies are planning to export gas to China and I am sure they are already.

www.GarrettCountyMarcellus.com

[Walter Augustine]

you mean thousands of jobs lost... there's the crews that has to come in and clean up the damage that is done, the doctors and rn's, lab people who won't have people to treat from rare forms of cancers and other illness. the road crews that have to repair the roads and bridges. Police, EMS, Firefighters that have to pick up the pieces from the accidents cause on the roads now will be out of a jobs. It just down right shameful for us to make sure that we do this right when there is money that could be put into your pocket at the expense of others

[Laura Sanford]

Well said Walter!Greed seems to drive some to ignore the obvious. Another case of "I want my piece and consequences be damned." Thank goodness Maryland has strong leaders willing to look at the whole picture and trying to do what is best for the people. I am certainly willing to forgo a few jobs for the health and safety of thousands!

[Tom Pelton]

Thanks for the comment, Vince.

You are aware, of course, that oil and natural gas are used for different things and come from different sources.

Natural gas is for heating homes and buildings, and generating electricity, and as the fuel for many industries. But it is very rarely used to power cars and trucks, as oil is. We could produce four times as much natural gas here in the U.S. as we do today -- and sadly still be dependent on foreign oil for our cars and trucks. To be rid of that dependence, we need to change the auto industry and use more hybrid and electric cars, for example.

Producing and burning more natural gas might well mean burning less coal, which would be good because it could mean less air pollution. But it wouldn't necessarily do anything to the price of oil or how much oil we buy from overseas.

Also, a lot of the jobs for hydraulic fracturing in Western Maryland would likely go to workers from Texas and Oklahoma. We'd see a lot more out of state license plates in Western Maryland.

[Lara Lutz]

Next Tuesday, March 1, at 1 p.m., a Md. Senate commitee will hear testimony on this issue. You might want to express your views to the committee members or attend the hearing.

This committee will decide whether or not the bill moves forward for a vote in the Senate. Six votes are needed. The position of some members is unclear.

The committee list, with links to their emails, is at
http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/05sen/html/com/02eco.html

[Tom Pelton]

Thanks for the info, Lara. If anyone else out there has info on future meetings or important events related to this issue, please post them here.

[Patrick]

Upcoming Events:

March 2 – Natural Gas & Our Future (7:00 – 9:00 pm, Palace Theater, 31 East Main Street, Frostburg, Md.)

The Maryland Humanities Council invites you to a discussion on the topic of Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling and its potential benefits and risks. The evening’s panelists include Gregory Wrightstone, director of Geology for Pittsburgh-based Texas Keystone Inc. and the president of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and Josh Fox, director of the Oscar nominated film Gasland. This discussion will be moderated by Roger Wolf, University of Maryland School of Law Professor Emeritus and former director of the Maryland School of Law’s Center for Dispute Resolution.

For information: (410) 685-0095 (event is free; come early, since seating is not reserved)

[Dan]

@ Vince:

Rising fuel prices are not the end of the world. Letting them rise encourages resource economization. With hydrocarbon fuel a finite resource, it needs to be stretched out in its use for as long as possible.

High fuel prices also encourages research and implementation of new fuel sources. Issues like nuclear and renewable energy become valid considerations when it is cheaper and cleaner than hydrocarbon fuels. Solutions to waste issues from nuclear will be found because it is economically viable.

Economies will adjust for rising fuel costs. These prices are not new and therefore not as much of a shock to the economy as some would lead you to believe. The more persistent they become, the sooner the system and the people living within it, can adapt.

I'm not interested in drilling here, it is a temporary fix and a messy one that endangers other resources. There are better solutions.

[Gurpreet]

This is a well done video. Thank you Chesapeake for sharing how you go about the drlliing process. All you haters can hate but you will never get any respect from me because you use fossil fuels to live just like everyone else in the world!